The True Mezzanotte
by AnimeFreak1123
Summary: Dino has spent his childhood in slight fear of Rosetta Mezzanotte, but one summer when she comes back, his life takes a different turn as they attend school together. And what will happen in their future as they take on Rosetta's power hungry twin brother while protecting their son? Read to find out! DinoxOC
1. The Letter

**Warning: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, the world of KHR, or the characters. Rosetta a Mezzanotte and other characters in her family I own.**

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><p>A young fifteen year old Dino Cavallone stared out the window with a bored look on his face, his chin resting on the hard wood surface of the desk he was sitting at. The soft warm summer breeze that found its way through the cracked open window tousled his short spikeyish golden blond locks while his milk chocolate colored eyes showed no emotion except exhaust and boredom.<p>

He sighed deeply, watching as the small white puffy clouds rolled by slowly in the large canvas that was his window. It was a beautiful, sunny warm day, when young people should be outside enjoying the weather, but the young Cavallone – who was busy most days and suddenly had a day off of training – didn't know exactly what to do for the time being.

'_It's so nice outside, but I just don't feel like doing anything…'_ he thought to himself with another sigh. Then, sitting up and grabbing his head with exasperation he shouted, "Isn't anything exciting going to happen today?!"

For a moment Dino thought something would happen, like it sometimes did, but Dino ended up sitting in the silence, his head still being grabbed for a few awkward minutes.

See, being tutored by a spontaneous cursed hitman had its perks, and being wary of these weird happenings that came naturally with the infant was one of them.

Finally realizing that nothing was really going to happen, the young Cavallone relaxed back into his chair and continued to stare at the blue sky and clouds with boredom until….

One of the drawers of his desk suddenly opened and he leaned over to see why it had opened. There was another thing too….

**He couldn't see the bottom of the drawer, only a black void.**

"What? I don't remember any of my drawers this way…" Dino muttered half to himself as he knelt down on the ground and examined the inside of the drawer much closer.

Suddenly fast as lightning, something hit him hard, right on the nose, nearly giving him a nose bleed. "What was that?!" he asked aloud with surprise, holding his nose and making sure whatever popped out didn't break it.

He heard the familiar chuckle of his home tutor and sat up.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting in his favorite leather chair – which was on a risen mechanism – smirking with a mug of cappuccino in his hand.

"Reborn?!" Dino shouted, still nursing his throbbing nose. "What the-? How did you fit in there?"

His tutor didn't answer. Instead, he commented with a smirk, "You should know that you shouldn't poke around places when someone could come out and attack."

"Like you?!" the young Cavallone retorted with slight annoyance. "What are you even doing in my desk drawer? You should ask before using my stuff for your things!"

He was then face to face with the end of one of the guns that Reborn usually had with him. Getting ready to shoot it, he said, "Don't talk back to your tutor."

Reborn isn't quite as most people expect. Most pictures depict a suave and mysterious young man in his mid-twenties – possibly thirties – wearing a sharp suit and rimmed fedora that shaded his golden eyes.

Instead this Reborn sitting in front of Dino was very short and had the form of a five year old child. He had wild, spikey black hair with spiral sideburns and big round black eyes. On his head was a black fedora with a red shirt and blue tie. Around his neck was a peculiar yellow pacifier and perched on the brim of his hat was a small green lizard named Leon – a companion Reborn never went anywhere without.

Instantly Dino put his hands up and pleaded with his home tutor not to shoot him.

"I thought so," Reborn commented as he put his gun away. "You still need more tutoring Pipsqueak Dino." – with his free hand he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, ignoring the shouts for him not to call his student that name – "Now onto more important matters. This letter is for you." He pulled an envelope out and handed it to his student.

Regardless, Dino received the letter somewhat gratefully and upon looking at the writing and the name on the envelope, his slight confusion turned to outright fear and disappointment.

"Eh?!" he exclaimed, staring at the envelope. "Reborn, where did you-?"

His voice trailed off as he looked to his tutor for an answer, but he was no longer there. The drawer was still open, but Reborn and his chair had disappeared. Dino sighed to himself as he stared at the name on the envelope.

_**Rosetta Mezzanotte.**_

That was the name of the sender, and he knew very well what was written in the letter.

It was a frequent occurrence that happened every summer. She would send him a letter telling him that she would arrive within a week or so, stay for the whole summer vacation, and then spend that time being his shadow and clinging to him.

He didn't really dislike her, she was actually pretty cute. If it wasn't for her overzealous attitude and the fact that she clinged to him a little too much, he would actually think about asking her out on a date or something.

That wasn't the only thing that made him cringe when he saw her letter in the mail. It was also her twin brother, Nero Ezzelin Mezzanotte. Whenever he came to visit – which was rare – Dino would hide, living in constant fear of Nero possibly killing the clumsy Cavallone. Nero would hunt Dino down in his own home, just so they could "spar", which was just Nero beating up the poor Cavallone. Dino had quite a few scars from those times Nero would back him into a corner and hurt him.

Thinking on those things, the young Cavallone shivered and hoped that Rosetta would be coming without her brother. Her clinginess, he could tolerate, and he thought that with him busy with tutoring, she wouldn't be able to cling too much. In fact, maybe with the tutoring he could avoid her altogether. So he kept that thought through the week, not even knowing that Reborn had other plans for the young teens up his sleeve….

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><p><strong>Hey there, sorry for not putting up anything for a while. For one, I had to move back to the states, and I had a massive writers block! But here's the first chapter (again) for my Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Fanfic.<strong>

**I've decided to rewrite this first chapter because I felt it could use a huge update. That and some of the comments from my Bleach fanfic said that the content for the fanfic was way too much and it needed to be broken down. I couldn't change the structure halfway through the story 'cause it wouldn't be right (though at this point in time I'm seriously thinking about rewriting it too). So I'm rewriting this fanfic because all I have is one chapter up for this one. Sorry for causing confusion or other feelings for those of you already waiting for the second chapter of my older KHR fanfic, but I think you'll be happier with this one.**

**I'll really try to keep up with updates on this one but I might get stuck a few times, so please bear with me and the updated chapters will really be worth it!**

**I look forward to any reviews that you write as well. They really give me the drive to go on and they lift my spirits!**


	2. Rosetta Mezzanotte

A week flashed as quickly as the snap of the fingers, and Dino never gave another thought about Rosetta. That is, until one fateful week later…

Like any other morning in the Cavallone Mansion, it started with a series of loud thumps, followed by a yelp from the clumsy Cavallone son. You see, Dino is…different from the normal teens his age. Without any members of the Cavallone family nearby, he becomes quite clumsy, tripping over nothing in particular and possibly hurting himself in the process.

He needs the presence of at least on Cavallone family member to be, well, not clumsy. That is, with one exception…

"That looked like fun." He heard a familiar female's voice coming from his right, but he couldn't see her, because his legs were concealing his field of vision.

He moved his legs down so that he was half lying on the ground with his legs on the stairs. As soon as he saw his childhood friend's face, he scrambled to get to his feet, almost falling down again in the process.

"R-Rosetta!" he stuttered with surprise while regaining his balance. "When did you get here?"

"Just yesterday. You were out so I just made myself at home. I hope that's okay…" the girl called Rosetta replied, looking to Dino who nodded with approval. "I came out into the hall to meet you and that's when I saw you roll down the stairs. Seems like things never change…"

She then crossed her arms and started to shake her head with a knowing smile playing on her lips.

Seeing her actions made Dino blush with surprise. Never had he seen her act like this. She had matured significantly for a thirteen year old since last summer. If she hadn't changed at all, he would have been forced back down to the ground from one of Rosetta's infamous clingy greeting hugs.

Now that her overall change in attitude had become apparent to him, Dino now saw the changes in Rosetta's look as well. In the time that had passed between the two summers, Rosetta grew a bit taller, making her an inch shorter than Dino, who is five feet tall. She let her previous short reddish brown hair grow out so that little rivers of her hair fell over her shoulders. Her bangs were parted on the right side of her forehead and she kept them long and brushed behind her ears. Her eye color – a soft blue – was bright and had a sparkle in them. The Mezzanotte star in her right eye had become more noticeable. She was currently wearing a simple light blue summer dress with spaghetti straps that ended at her knees. On her feet were half inch sandal heels.

"Hey Dino, are you okay?" Rosetta stated, waking her friend from his daze as she waved her hand in front of his face. "You seem kind of…spacey…"

Dino finally came back down to earth and blushed profusely while he fumbled around, finding the right words to say. Eventually he got his tongue back and managed to reply, "I'm just fine Rosetta. Just fine."

For a moment she gazed at the ditzy Cavallone skeptically with an eyebrow raised. Then she gave in and said, "Okay, I believe you," – she relaxed and a smile graced her lips once more – "So, you want to hang out or something?"

Hearing this question of hers made Dino a little guilty. Never had he imagined that she would decide to become more mature in the year that she was away. He just thought about being trained by his tutor and evading her for the rest of the summer.

So now he was stuck on how to answer.

"Um…Rosetta?" Dino stated with hesitance, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. "Sorry, but I can't hang out with you today. My tutor has a lot of stuff planned for my training.

Dino looked to his friend for her response and saw that her smile had melted into a disappointed frown.

He was about to say sorry again when a familiar voice from behind Rosetta announced, "I can fix that."

The both of them looked to where the voice came from and saw…

"Oh…"Rosetta stated with wonder as she gazed at the toddler while Dino tried to introduce the two to each other. "Dino, you never told me you had such a cute little brother!"

While Reborn just stood there silently, being "cute", the young Cavallone stepped in and introduced Rosetta to Reborn.

"Wait, so _this _is Reborn, that famous – and most feared – hitman and home tutor?" Rosetta asked after Dino had finished with the introductions.

"Ciaosu." The pint-sized hitman greeted in reply. "I have heard a lot about you from Dino. He has been telling me a lot about-."

"So," the Cavallone son interrupted loudly. "You know Reborn, Rosetta?"

"Of course I do. Who in the mafia underworld doesn't?" his friend replied seriously. "I just didn't recognize him at first. Reborn doesn't look like a toddler in any of the pictures and paintings I've seen at the Vongola-nono's* house."

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Rosetta Mezzanotte." The hitman toddler said with a smile. "I have heard of your great family name and what they do for a living. It is very noble, what they do."

"Well, our family does its best in these times of trouble…" Rosetta stated in response bashfully.

"How is your brother Nero?" the small hitman asked with slight interest while Dino jumped with shock at the mention of his childhood friend's brother.

"When I left our home, he was a little disappointed and angry." Rosetta answered truthfully. "He actually wanted to come but he had to stay home and train some more because he's been slacking lately."

Dino gulped nervously and stuttered, "Nero _wanted _to come?!"

"Yes, and even if he was able to come, I wouldn't want him to come anyway." His childhood friend stated in reply. "You see, ever since I was little, I was an outcast in school because of my…special abilities. Dino, you were the only one who accepted me for who I really am, and when my brother would come with me to visit you and bullied you like he did; it hurt me to see Nero treating you like that…"

She took a stuttering breath, as if she was about to cry while Dino said her name in a comforting and concerned voice. After a few minutes, she recovered and continued.

"I'm okay now. Anyway, I've wanted to tell you something ever since I've made a change to my attitude a year ago. I realized that my old approach to you was wrong and childish, so now that I've changed, I decided I want to fully support you when we both become bosses someday."

"I keep telling Reborn and now I have to start persuading you?" Dino said with hesitation as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't want to be a mafia boss…"

"Too bad." Reborn stated simply, pointing his tiny gun at him. "I'm training you to become a mafia boss and that's what you'll be."

"Don't be discouraged Dino," Rosetta added with a lighter note of encouragement. "I know you'll be a great mafia boss!"

Dino could only stare at the both of them, speechless with disbelief as he thought to himself; _They're not even giving me a choice on the matter! _

"By the way Rosetta, your mentioning of these 'special abilities' you own have piqued my curiosity." Reborn brought up the subject casually, bringing Dino back from his thoughts. "I would like to see a demonstration of them, if you don't mind."

"I'm not really allowed to reveal the Mezzanotte family special abilities to anyone…" she stated with uncertainty, but then was certain in the response she was about to give. "But since it's you Reborn, I guess it's okay. Just give me a few minutes to get my weapon and change into more comfortable clothes."

With that, she trotted off to her room to get changed while Dino and Reborn watched her go.

"Why is she getting a weapon?" Dino finally asked out of curiosity, though he was going to regret asking the question.

The small toddler hitman smirked. "If my assumption is correct, Rosetta needs to fight someone in order to show one of her special abilities."

"So you're going to fight her Reborn?!"

"No, you are."

Dino gazed at his tutor in shock and shouted with surprise, "I can't fight Rosetta! She's a girl!"

"You are underestimating her Dino. She is more skilled than you think, and you will see the error of your thoughts when you fight her." Reborn stated in response, then gave Dino an order. "Now go get your whip."

The clumsy Cavallone was about to tell his tutor he wasn't going to fight, when Reborn pointed his gun at him once again and the boy went to go get his whip without another word.

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><p><strong>*Vongola-nono is just another way to say Vongola the Ninth, otherwise referring to (Timoteo).<strong>

**Finally, another chapter up! It's going slowly but surely, so bear with me please! For those of you who have read the original first chapter of this fanfic, I hope that you like this version better. I also hope that you wait patiently for the next chapter, 'till then enjoy!**


	3. Secret Abilities

Not long after Dino came back from trudging to his room to get his whip, Rosetta was coming down the hall towards the two males with what looked like a long metal pipe in her possession. She was wearing a dark blue – almost black – tank top hoodie and skinny jeans under a tube top-like blue zip up jacket with a long back to it and black knee-high boots.

"Where did you get that outfit, Rosetta?" Dino asked curiously as she approached further. "I've never seen anything like that before."

"That's because I made it myself." His childhood friend stated happily as she turned to show it all off. "Well, except for the pants and boots. Do you like it?"

As soon as she asked him the question, a deep red blush appeared on his cheeks and he looked away from her, stuttering something she couldn't quite understand.

"Speak up, Pipsqueak Dino." Reborn ordered from his shoulder, punching his face hard.

For a few more minutes, Dino was still a little speechless, but finally he managed to stutter that Rosetta looked really nice in the outfit she made.

"That's better." His tutor stated, sounding like he wasn't really satisfied at all. "But next time, complement the young lady with confidence."

Dino just nodded while Rosetta giggled at the scene that had played out before her.

Then she said, "Thank you for the complement, Dino. What do you say we go outside so I can show you and Reborn those abilities?"

She started to leave down the hallway and her friend followed hesitantly behind her with his tutor still on his shoulder.

Once they got outside to a nice clearing with beautiful green trees here and there, they prepared themselves for the battle they were about to fight. After Rosetta swung and spun her pipe around in her hands a few times, she noticed that Dino wasn't unraveling his whip and getting ready.

"Dino what's wrong?" she asked her friend with concern.

For a moment, Dino was silent, then he suddenly said, "I can't fight you Rosetta. I just can't"

"If you're afraid that you'll hurt me, don't worry, because I'll be just fine." His friend told him with encouragement. "I'm strong enough. I've been trained since I learned how to walk. So bring it on and give me your best shot."

"You heard the young lady." Reborn told his student. "She wants a fight, so give it to her… Or else." He then pointed his gun at Dino, so the clumsy Cavallone had no choice but to fight his childhood friend.

"Are you ready?" Rosetta asked after he had agreed reluctantly with a look of uncertain determination on his face.

As soon as Dino shifted into his battle stance, Rosetta shot forward quickly to attack. Dino, already afraid, shut his eyes tightly and defended himself with his whip as best as he could. For a few minutes he stayed like that, until he realized that nothing had hit him since he defended.

Slowly the clumsy Cavallone son opened one eye and then the other, no longer defending himself. With his whip at the ready to attack, he turned around, searching for his opponent, but he couldn't see her anywhere. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his face as he looked around a few more times, his eyes darting quickly to detect any presence of Rosetta in the area.

**But it was as if she had disappeared entirely.**

If there was ever a reason to be worried, it was now. Rosetta didn't even warn him or tell him exactly what her special abilities were. Was it an ability that made her blend in to her surroundings, or was it something more advanced than that? Dino gazed over to Reborn to see if he had some good advice, but his tutor just stood there watching and smirking.

'_That's some poker face…' _he thought sarcastically, giving his tutor a small glare. '_I guess I have to get through this on my own…'_

Silence followed as Dino resorted to his hearing to find Rosetta. He closed his eyes and stood still for what seemed like hours, but was really just minutes. This was another perk of being tutored by someone like Reborn. The small hitman had put him through many trials, forcing him to use his five senses until they were amplified, so he was using them now.

He heard the breeze rustling the branches in the trees, ever so slightly, and his breath flowing slowly out of his mouth. Suddenly there was an ever so soft sound of a snapping branch and a sharp intake of breath not long afterward. As soon as he heard the snapping branch, Dino turned to the source of the sound just in time to see a blue blur up in the tree. If only he had been a few seconds earlier, he could've gotten her…

'_She must be hiding somewhere else now'._ He thought as he continued to stare at the last place he saw her. '_How did she disappear so fast? Unless…'_

"Illusione a Mezzanotte*; that's what the ability I used is called." Rosetta stated from behind Dino, making him jump before he turned to face her.

"Did you read my mind?!" he asked with shock, still recovering from the scare before.

"No, I just assumed that you put two and two together." She replied. "You were pretty impressive yourself, resorting to your hearing to find me. It was lucky for you that I slipped." Dino said his thanks for the complement before proceeding to ask exactly what his friend was doing earlier during their battle.

Rosetta just smirked and became a blur as she disappeared and appeared a few times in different locations before coming back to where she started.

"How can you do that?!" Dino asked with curiosity and surprise while he rubbed his eyes because they were hurting from trying to follow her moves.

"I believe Reborn can answer that question." Rosetta suggested, pointing to her friend's tutor.

The clumsy Cavallone shifted his gaze to his tutor and found the small hitman standing next to a TV with a video camera hooked up to it. '_Where exactly does he get these things from?!'_ He asked himself with disbelief apparent on his face.

"This is a video showing what Rosetta just did in slow motion." Reborn informed his student before turning the TV on with the remote in his hand.

The video began with Rosetta standing the way she was before she first disappeared. Then slowly she almost danced gracefully to the next point where she appeared. The video then repeated pretty much the same until Rosetta came to a stop like she did before. Then it ended.

When the video ended, Dino turned to his friend and asked, "So you do that, but much faster?"

"That's it, pretty much." Rosetta answered before turning to Reborn and continuing. "I hope I can rely on you for keeping these abilities a secret Reborn, especially the one I'm about to show you."

The small hitman promised that he would keep them secret and managed to get Rosetta to agree on him keeping the video, but had to promise that he wouldn't show it to another living soul without her permission.

"Okay then. Now that that's settled, I think I'll show you my next ability by doing something simple." Rosetta stated with caution. "I don't want to end up causing a disaster or knocking anyone out."

Dino gulped nervously as she then instructed him and his tutor to stand a few steps behind her and watched with worry as she raised her arm, pointing at the nearest tree. She took in a deep breath and concentrated on her target ahead. Still keeping calm, Rosetta simply said, _**"Bang." **_And the noise of a bullet hitting a tree filled their ears. Rosetta then put her arm down and faced her surprised yet confused friend and his smirking tutor.

"That's it?" Dino asked with slight disappointment in his voice as he went to go see the small hole in the tree trunk, as if a bullet really did hit the tree. "You could cause a disaster with that?"

"Well, yes, if I use a different word." His friend answered while Dino looked at her confused, so she continued by explaining. "What I just did is called Word Conjuring. Depending on the word I use, I can cause damage or even heal someone just by saying it. But because it's so powerful, I choose not to use it so often. I only use this ability when I really need to."

"Stories have been told that back in history people would use just one word to cause huge devastations." Reborn added. "Others could make miracles by healing with just one word."

"Wow that's pretty amazing." Was all the clumsy Cavallone could say.

"It's not when you just use the words for causing sadness and devastation…" Rosetta said sullenly, thinking of her brother, but didn't say anything about him.

Reborn, however, picked up on this because he knew about the dark side of Rosetta's twin brother and knew it was corrupting him…

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><p><strong>*Illusione a Mezzanotte simply means "Illusion at Midnight" in Italian. It's sort of like shunpo to soul reapers and sonído to arrancar.<strong>

**Yet another chapter done! I just want to say thank you to those of you reading this and those of you who have reviewed, faved, and followed this story! Just seeing the messages I get make me so happy and it gives me the motivation to get the chapters typed and posted! So thank you and I hope you keep on faving and reviewing!**


	4. Summer's End

The summer went on by in a flash as Rosetta and Dino continued to spar each day and got to know each other better. Through this they became really close friends and it soon came to the day when Dino had to let his friend leave…

"Wow, I'm really impressed, Dino." Rosetta stated after Dino had managed to take her weapon with his whip, which was a hard feat in itself.

"Your fighting skills have gotten substantially better since Rosetta came to visit." Reborn added from the sidelines with his usual smirk.

"It's all thanks to the both of you that I've gotten this good." Dino said with gratitude to his friend and his tutor.

"Good enough to change your mind about becoming the boss of the Cavallone famiglia*?" Reborn asked his student.

"Not a chance, Reborn!" the young Cavallone replied before turning to Rosetta. "I guess we're done sparring, now that I've taken your only weapon."

He then turned to leave, thinking that she would catch up and follow him, but she had other plans. She sneaked up to him swiftly and silently and meant to at least knock him out with a swift kick, but he had blocked her attack. Rosetta was utterly surprised at her friend as she lowered her leg. Not only had he blocked her kick with her own weapon, but he had also done it without turning or looking to face her. After a moment, Dino finally turned, just in time to duck from one of Rosetta's round house kicks.

'_Whoa, that was close…' _he thought with relief as he stood up. He was about to ask if they were done now, but apparently she wasn't because she came at him fiercely with a barrage of martial arts moves.

He managed to dodge and block a lot of them, until Rosetta kicked at him one last time. Luckily he backed up in time, but in the process he lost his balance and fell back, landing on his rear.

"You sure got me there, Rosetta," Dino stated after she helped him to stand up. "When did you learn all of those martial arts moves?"

"I started learning four years ago and absorbed it like a sponge. I'm actually a black belt." Rosetta replied while receiving her weapon back from her friend. "Anyway, my uncle taught me when he came back from his travels in China."

"Really?!" the young Cavallone said with a mixture of interest and surprise. "Do you think you could teach me? I mean if you're up for it…" He gazed at her expectantly but became slightly concerned while Rosetta's smile fell into a small frown, just like it did on the first day of their summer together.

"Pipsqueak Dino. You must have forgotten that Rosetta is leaving today." Reborn commented seriously as Dino realized that he had made a mistake.

"T-Today, huh?" the young Cavallone stated hesitantly after he heard the depressing news. "Geez I forgot. Summer can go by so quickly. It feels like you just came to visit yesterday…"

For a while they were awkwardly silent, until Rosetta looked up with a small bittersweet smile and said, "Don't worry about it. It's not like we'll never see each other again."

"But I feel like we never got to know each other fully." Her friend stated honestly, causing her cheeks to become slightly pink.

"That's fine. We always have next summer, and all the summers after that." Rosetta stated hopefully before hearing a car horn beep in the distance. She gazed in the direction where the sound came from before continuing.

"Oh, that must be my ride to the airport." – she faced the two males once more – "I'll see you next year, Dino. And Reborn, don't overdo his training. I want to see him in one piece when I come back for a visit."

With that, she gave her friend a somewhat hesitant and slightly awkward hug and said goodbye to the both of them before running off towards the front of the Cavallone house, where the car was waiting for her.

"Yeah, see you next year…" Dino mumbled as he watched her go wistfully while waving after her.

He then turned to talk to Reborn, but his tutor wasn't there, so he decided to go to his room, assuming that the small hitman had his own business to attend to.

The young Cavallone was, in fact, right. Reborn was in one of his many hiding spaces, making a call. A call to an old friend of his…

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><p><strong>*Famiglia means family in Italian. Pretty straight forward.<strong>

**Sorry this chapter's a bit small, but I want a distinct break between the end of summer and the first day of school. So I'm sorry that you're a little sad that this chapter is a little short, but I hope that you will look forward to a (possibly) long chapter. **

**Also, I know that this might sound a bit familiar from the first version, and it is. I just decided some of the stuff I typed from the first version sounded good and so I used it.**


	5. First Day and New Meetings

A week later Rosetta was nearly forgotten as Dino was rushing around his room trying to get his things for the first day of mafia school.

"See you later Reborn!" he shouted as he left his room in a rush.

The small hitman stayed behind in the room and watched his student leave with a smirk on his face. He then reached for the nearest phone receiver, picked it up and dialed a phone number.

"Is everything ready to go?" he asked once the person on the other side of the line answered.

"Yes, Rosetta is already registered and we're riding up to the front of the school right now." A young man's smooth voice replied through the receiver.

"Dino is heading over to the school as we speak." Reborn informed the young man. "Let Rosetta know I'll see them there."

"Right. Shall I pick you all up after school is finished?" the young man asked as a car door slammed in the background.

"Do as you see fit." Reborn stated in response. "See you later." He then hung up after the man on the other side of the line said his good bye and left to meet his student at the school…

"Phew, I made it." Dino stated breathlessly after he had set foot on the school campus.

He was currently wearing what he usually wears; a simple white button up shirt under a red brown vest with dark brown slacks and shoes.

For a while he walked forward and strolled around, seeing other students slowly arrive and mingle and catch up since they hadn't seen each other since the end of the school year. He continued to watch them, not paying attention to his surroundings, causing him to bump into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that…" – he stopped mid-sentence, realizing who it was he had just bumped into – "Rosetta?!" he exclaimed with surprise and disbelief while rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing here?! I thought you left last week."

Rosetta was also wearing a school-inspired outfit, with a baby blue button up shirt under a navy blue blazer and a matching skirt with black tights and brown slip on shoes with a small heel.

"I didn't really want to leave." His friend stated happily with excitement. "So Reborn called up my parents and he convinced them to enroll me into this mafia school! I can't wait to meet all the friends you made here!"

Dino flinched as he thought of his only "friend" with horror apparent on his face. He tried to distract Rosetta from asking around but it wasn't working because she wasn't paying attention. And before he knew it, it was too late…

"VOI! Out of my way you weaklings!" a loud strong voice sounded from behind the childhood friends, causing Dino to jump and Rosetta to look curiously for the source of the voice among other students who did the same. "I said, OUT OF MY WAY!"

The crowd immediately dispersed in fear, revealing and angry looking teen who was making a bee line for Dino and Rosetta.

He was as tall as Dino, if not a little taller, and had short, silver white hair which was relatively in the same style that Dino's hair was in. The teen had silver-grey colored eyes to match his hair color and he wore a simple black long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows with grey pants and black shoes.

The teen then noticed Rosetta with Dino and, pointing what was a sword in a sheath at her he asked, "Who is this chick with you, Dino?"

The young Cavallone opened his mouth to answer, then Rosetta was going to interrupt, but the teen was quick to notice the tiny star in Rosetta's eye and cut them both off. Squinting at Rosetta to see the star better, the angry teen answered his own question with a question, "You're a Mezzanotte, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm Rosetta Mezzanotte." She replied as politely as she could before continuing, but the teen interrupted her once again.

"How did you get yourself acquainted with a Mezzanotte, Dino?"

"She's my childhood friend." The Cavallone answered simply.

The angry teen then turned back to Rosetta with a scowl. "VOI! Listen here girl, I hear there's an up and coming swordsman in the Mezzanotte family, is that true?" he asked quite loudly and Rosetta nodded to answer, knowing that if she said anything more, the teen would cut her off again. "Then tell him I want to meet him someday for a duel."

With that, he stomped off and into the school building, leaving Dino and Rosetta speechless.

"Well that was interesting." Rosetta commented after a long pause to break the tension. "He seemed to know you though Dino. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, that's Squalo Superbia for you…" her friend answered, but drew off and then continued again. "Well, we're not really friends. We don't even hang out as often as normal friends do because he's training to be the strongest swordsman and you already know who I have to deal with everyd-oof!"

Before he finished his sentence, Reborn came out of nowhere and kicked Dino in the back of his head with such force that the Cavallone was forced to the ground.

Meanwhile, Rosetta was lost in her thoughts, 'If Squalo is the only one he said is his friend, who isn't really his friend, that means I'm his only friend…'

However, Reborn brought her back out as he pointed his gun at the back Dino's head and said firmly, "Complain about my tutoring regime and I'll make it twice as hard for you."

"But I wasn't complaining!" his student shouted in reply as a crowd of students started to gather and whisper in wonder and embarrassment about the duo.

While Rosetta was trying – and having no luck – to disperse the crowd, a stuck up young boy made his way through the crowd to the object of their whispers. Ignoring the two in the middle of the crowd, he announced, "What's all this? You students should be picking up your schedules at this time! Now go and get them."

Slowly the crowd began to go off to their destinations until he was left with Rosetta standing next to Dino still lying on the ground with Reborn still pointing his gun at him. Once the spectators were gone, the stuck up boy turned to Dino with a scowl on his face and after Reborn had greeted him innocently, he started to scold the young Cavallone.

"I should've known it was you, Cavallone. It's always been you, whether it was a courtyard showing with Reborn or you wrecking the place with your clumsy antics." He said as he looked down on the clumsy blonde. "We can't afford to pay for any more of your slip ups. Consider this a warning…"

He was then about to leave, when Rosetta caught his eye.

"A new student I see," he stated with a lighter emotion than before as he turned to her. "I'm Emilio Alfieri, second in command at this school. Would you like me to give you a tour?"

Now that this boy called Emilio was closer to Rosetta, she was able to see his features more clearly. He had a slightly messy mop of dark brown, almost black hair and the most stunning amber colored eyes hiding behind slightly large rounded square glasses. He was currently wearing a dark blue long sleeved button-up shirt with dark blue jeans and sneakers; a casual yet classy look, which suited him well.

"I appreciate the offer," Rosetta stated with an apologetic smile. "But I already have Dino to show me around."

"I see how it is then…" Emilio replied with a leer at said Cavallone. "Well, if you change your mind in any way, let me know."

And with that, he left the trio and walked into the school building. Reborn let Dino go, and he stood up and brushed the dust off of his clothing.

"The only reason that he's second in command is that he's the principal's son." Dino remarked huffily from beside Rosetta with crossed arms. "He uses his power to dish out unfair punishments…"

"How do you know Dino?" Rosetta asked curiously.

Dino tried to answer by lying, but Reborn answered for him instead, "Dino has been sent to detention a number of times these past few years."

"Reborn!" the Cavallone son exclaimed with embarrassment that his reputation with Rosetta was going to decline.

Meanwhile Rosetta gasped and said with a playful smirk, "Dino you're a bad boy?!"

"N-No!" her friend proclaimed with a deep red blush on his cheeks. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time…"

"Your face says otherwise." Reborn commented plainly, as Dino was looking away when he was telling her these things.

"What things did you do wrong to get into detention, Dino?" Rosetta asked innocently before Dino started to sputter nervously as his face went even redder.

"It's all in the past now, so let's just go inside and get our schedules!" he suggested while walking away.

Rosetta giggled while following and Reborn stayed behind a while before going his own way to fulfill his own mental schedule…

A few minutes later, Dino and Rosetta where looking over their schedules. Reborn had somehow disappeared from their sights before they entered the building.

"Eh?! What's this?!" the young Cavallone exclaimed with shock and surprise after looking over his classes. "These aren't the classes I picked!"

"Let me see…" Rosetta stated with interest, looking over his shoulder. After she examined it, and then checked it with her own, she continued, "These are all the same classes that I have. What did you originally pick?"

Dino was about to tell her that he had picked the most laid back classes that were available to him, but was having a hard time.

"Of course Dino has the same classes." The familiar voice of Reborn's spoke up from behind them.

The two of them turned to see why he was in such an unlikely place and found the toddler in a small plush room that looked like a lounge brewing his coffee with the wall opened like a door.

The home tutor continued, "I have chosen those classes for you, Dino, because I felt you needed more of a challenge this year, seeing as you were slacking in the last."

"A challenge?! But these classes are way above my learning abilities!" his student exclaimed with disagreement. "And why does Rosetta have classes that are above her grade?"

His friend was about to answer, but Reborn was quick to reply, "You mean 'above the grade she's supposed to be in'. Despite being a couple of years younger than you, Rosetta has the IQ of the average tenth grader, maybe higher. She _is_ in the same grade as you. And I'm not changing your classes, no matter how hard you grumble."

"Eh?!" Dino exclaimed with shock and he turned to his friend, desperate. "Rosetta, help me please!"

"Sorry Dino, I can't do anything to sway Reborn's decision," she stated in response. "But if you ever need any help with the homework, you can count on me."

'_That's not exactly the kind of help I wanted…'_ Dino thought to himself with disappointment.

* * *

><p><strong>So school begins and a rival is introduced! What will Emilio and Dino do to try and win Rosetta's heart? You'll just have to continue reading to find out! Anyway, I cut the chapter here to not overwhelm you guys with a long chapter, so hopefully I can get the next one typed and dished out as soon as I finish it.<strong>

**I'm so sorry for submitting so slowly, but sometimes I don't feel like writing some of this story sometimes, and other stories keep popping up in my head. I'll get the next chapter up when I can, so please bear with me (it's sometimes hard to not follow a set plot line as with my bleach Strong love fanfic). I have written down a plot, so hopefully that'll get me in line and write some more for you guys.**

**Reviews and favorites are always appreciated and loved (I send them all to a special folder in my e-mail) so continue to do so if you can. They motivate me so much and I love to hear what you think about them.**


	6. Rivals

The bell for the first class then rang, letting the many students in the hallway know that the school year was officially starting. Dino groaned inwardly as he followed Rosetta to their first class; combat.

As the two friends came in through the double doors, they saw what looked like a theatre, with the floor before them sloping at a slight angle down towards the some kind of "stage". The slope had at least five hundred or more dark blue folded theatre chairs connected to the floor. Instead of sloping ramps on the isles between the seats there were stairs covered with red carpeting.

The "stage" at the base of the steps was basically a huge bullet proof glass wall at the far end. Behind the glass was a white room where someone could choose their battle ground with the push of a button at the machine on the right wall next to the glass. In the first two rows were a few students already waiting for the teacher to come in so the class could start.

"Wow, it's so plush in here." Rosetta commented with awe as the two of them started walking to the front of the auditorium. "I wonder what all of the other classrooms look like…"

"Pretty much the same as usual classrooms, with the chairs and desks…" Dino replied with indifference. "But I guess from your point of view it would be something special…"

"It's nothing like the auditorium in the school I attended though." Rosetta added.

She was about to continue with another comment, but a familiar voice sounded from behind the two friends saying, "Well, well, well. We meet again Rosetta. You must be a pretty intelligent young lady to be in a class of this level." – his voice changed tones – "And Cavallone. Have you finally decided to stop slacking off and now attending the classes you need?"

"Oh, Hello again Emilio." Rosetta greeted with a smile after she and Dino turned around to see the strict student standing there.

"What are you doing here?" the young Cavallone asked, slightly surprised and annoyed at the same time. "Shouldn't you be off somewhere enforcing discipline or something?"

"Almost as correct as you are Cavallone, I decided to take classes this year." Emilio answered as he withdrew his schedule from the notebook he was carrying and showed it to him. "Attending them will further equip me with the proper abilities to protect this school with my all."

Dino didn't bother to look at the schedule, but he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes while grumbling. Emilio was such a show off! No doubt he was doing this to get more of Rosetta's attention…

Unfortunately for Dino, his actions did not go unnoticed and Emilio flew into such a temper that Dino got drawn into a heated argument with him.

"Excuse me. What did you just do?" Emilio asked, his anger already bubbling up.

"Nothing. Why is it burning you so much?" Dino remarked.

"There is no way that what you did was nothing! I saw you roll your eyes just now!"

"I didn't do anything and there's no way you can prove it!"

Rosetta was trying her best to break the fight up, but suddenly someone interrupted by saying, "I know a way. Solve it with a battle."

"What an idea!" Emilio exclaimed, eager to discipline the young man he was just arguing with.

Dino, however, looked over to the seat where the voice had come from and saw Reborn, relaxing on the theatre chair behind them with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Reborn!" he hissed with slight anger to the toddler who had spoken up. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm here to aid the teacher if chaos ensues." The toddler said after taking a sip of the hot liquid in the mug in his hand. He lowered his voice. "That and I've given you a chance to show Emilio that Rosetta is your girl." – he paused and pointed his gun at his student before he could complain – "So get down there and battle him."

Dino blushed and sputtered, but there was no reasoning with Reborn, so he trudged after Emilio into the white room with his whip in hand.

Rosetta was about to follow her friend and sit in the front row to cheer him on, but the small hitman bid her sit next to him. She did so, wondering what her friend's tutor wanted.

In the meantime, Emilio and Dino were standing in the white room, ready for battle.

"I hope you don't mind that we use my favorite battle ground." Emilio commented as he gazed at his opponent before nodding to the student waiting beside the machine.

The student standing by the machine on the other side of the glass made the same gesture and pressed a few buttons. Finally he pulled a lever and a hologram started to form around the two boys. Dino looked around.

They appeared to be standing on a puffy white platform of cloud above what looked like a city. The city scape looked familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it…

"The aerial view of Venice is quite beautiful, is it not?" Emilio stated with a soft smile as he gazed down at the buildings floating on the water which made something like watery streets between them. "My family and I would take trips here when we could. Someone prepared this for me, on my request, of course." – he paused as he took in the beauty of the city below them – "Rosetta is just as beautiful. Tell me…is she…with anyone?"

Dino was confused by this question, so he answered with another question to make it seem like he knew to avoid Emilio's ridicule.

"Why should I tell you?" he asked.

For a moment, Emilio was silent in glaring at his opponent. Then, wielding his weapon, which was a long steel rod with speared ends, he said, "Very well then. If I win, you answer my question. I will not take any other answer than 'yes' or 'no'."

Dino just gazed on with brows furrowed and took his stance as if to say, "Let's just get on with it."

Emilio also readied his weapon with a fierce gaze and soon they were in the midst of battle.

Meanwhile, Rosetta and Reborn were watching the two fight while sitting a safe distance away from the other students so they could have a private conversation.

"So what do you think?" Reborn asked suddenly from beside her. "Who's going to win?"

"It's hard to say at this point…" Rosetta answered with thought as she continued to watch. "But I believe that Dino will do his very best to win."

"Why do you believe in my student so much?" the home tutor asked next, earning a slightly shocked look from the young lady sitting beside him.

Rosetta gazed back to the battle, silent as she watched Emilio starting to gain the upper hand.

"Surely you should already know why I believe so much in Dino, Reborn." She finally said slowly without turning her gaze away from the bout.

The small hitman smirked before responding with, "I know, but I might be wrong. I want to hear it from you."

Rosetta blushed a little before she opened her mouth to answer…

"Humph, you should be grateful that these blades are dull, Cavallone," Emilio commented with a sly smirk. "At this point in time it looks like I'll be winning."

He gazed at his opponent, who was kneeling, panting with scratches and bruises all over and glaring back at him.

"I'm feeling in a giving mood right now." He continued after a few moments of silence. "I'll give you two choices. You can either admit defeat now, or I'll do it myself. I'll give you some time to think about it…"

For a moment, Dino was silent in thought while resting a little.

'_He isn't giving me much to choose from…'_ he considered carefully before gazing at the glass wall, which he couldn't look out of because the machine cloaked it. _'Rosetta is on the other side of that wall, counting on me to win.'_ – he bit his lip with determination – _'I can't let her down now!'_

Dino stood and in that moment he had decided he would use the last of his energy to try and defeat his adversary.

"I take it you've decided then?" Emilio asked simply.

Dino nodded before answering with determination, "I have chosen to do neither of the things you have said." – he gulped and slowly breathed in and out – "I will defeat you."

Emilio was shocked for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter. His inner fire rekindled and he said, "Let's see you try then," before they began the battle once more.

At once Emilio ran towards Dino, brandishing his double speared staff, but when he came in for the swipe the blonde ducked over to the side and snapped his whip at his opponent's staff. It successfully wrapped around the pole part of the staff and Dino gave a tug, stealing the weapon from Emilio. After it was in his grasp, Dino swiped the staff at his adversary's lower legs, making him fall to the ground. Shocked, he looked up to see his own weapon pointed at him by none other than the boy he thought to be useless.

"How did you…?" Emilio started, but his voice drew out, making him silent with surprise.

"Looks like I win," Dino said coolly. "I don't have to answer your question…"

He then dropped the weapon next to Emilio and left the padded room.

Out at the seating area, Reborn smirked before saying half to himself, "And Pipsqueak Dino wins his first battle…" _'Rosetta is truly a remarkable asset for Dino…'_ he thought before looking to the young lady sitting next to him.

Later Dino approached his tutor and friend after being crowded by people who were surprised by his victory.

"You did it Dino!" Rosetta exclaimed as she approached her friend with a smile. "You were great in there!" Dino smiled back, a light pink on his cheeks.

Emilio then came to them and pulled Dino aside. "You have defeated me once but you won't do so again. I will make you answer that question. Consider us rivals now." He then left without another word as it was time to go to the next class.

* * *

><p><strong>A first win for Dino (not including his sparring session with Rosetta)! I'm so excited that I'm doing more chapters now, even though it's going slow. I would've finished and submitted this chapter last week, but I wasn't feeling very well and I just wanted to veg out. Hopefully I can get to submitting a chapter at least every other week, but until then, please bear with me. I really am trying to get more done and I'll try making the chapters a little longer if I can. Anyway, hope you enjoy!<strong>


	7. Gonna Be a Long School Year

The two then made their way to the next class and the rest of the day passed without any other hitches. That is except…

"I can't believe that we have nearly every class with Emilio!" Dino complained as he walked out of the school gates with Rosetta following close behind him when the day had ended. "Not to mention he hopped at every chance to answer every question the teachers asked!"

"Well maybe if we study up together you can start answering questions faster than him." His friend suggested cheerfully. "Then you two can be even."

"What, and end up a teacher's pet like him?" the young Cavallone said with his arms crossed. "No way!"

He then went on to complain about how hard the classes would end up later in the year, even though they had it easy now. He would have to get his act together, and he believed that his ruthless tutor Reborn had intended it to be this way.

At this moment, they had come out to the road before the gate and found a navy blue limo parked there. Standing in front was a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties or early thirties and was about six feet in height. He had dark brown colored hair that was at a side part and flowed over the right side of his face, nearly concealing one of his indigo colored eyes. He looked very scholarly with his thin rimmed rectangle shaped glasses and he was dressed averagely. He wore a black turtleneck that looked as if it had a blue hint to it under a brown overcoat and grey slacks with shiny black dress shoes. He greeted them with a smile as they approached.

"What are you doing here, Uncle Antonio?" Rosetta asked with genuine curiosity before stopping in front of him.

So this was Rosetta's uncle, which meant he was a Mezzanotte too. But he didn't seem to have the special star in either of his eyes. Why was that?

"I came to pick you and the young Cavallone up and take you back to the mansion." The man named Antonio replied lightly.

"Aww! Today was such a nice day that I wanted to walk." Rosetta stated with a pouty face at her uncle.

"Maybe tomorrow, but I was asked to pick you up today personally." Her uncle replied with a firm voice and a smile as he opened the car door. Already sitting inside was Reborn, who was the person who requested the ride.

"Well I guess if you insist…" his niece stated in reply as she crossed her arms and got into the limo upon seeing the small hitman. Dino followed suit and Antonio got in last.

Once they had all gotten into the car, Dino tried to look a little closer at Antonio to see if he wasn't mistaken in seeing that he didn't have the Mezzanotte star. He found none and thought that was a little odd while having a confused expression on his face.

Rosetta was quick to notice this and said to Dino, "He doesn't have the mark in either of his eyes because he was adopted into the family by my grandfather."

"Hey I was going to tell him that." Her uncle stated in response playfully with a charming smile.

"Sorry Uncle," Rosetta apologized to the older man, returning the smile. "I'll let you tell him why you don't have the star mark."

He then turned back to Dino and continued by starting to tell his story. "I was actually born in China and lived in happiness with my family. They were the best thirteen years of my life, but that soon ended when a couple of mafia men tortured and killed my parents for information. I was then utterly alone. I lived in the streets and lived out of garbage cans. I became furious and did bad things to any kind of mafia man that I came across. I was just so angry at them for taking away the only happiness I had in the world." He smiled in a sad way and Reborn bit his lip with the shadow from his fedora covering his eyes. Antonio stayed like that for a minute or two then he carried on with his story.

"I just lost myself in all the bad things I did that I didn't even know what I was doing anymore. After squeezing out so much information on my parent's killers, I found the family's name and one day, I found out there was a meeting amongst the men in that family. I decided that I'd crash their meeting and get rid of them all. Without thinking, I just ran in recklessly and they laughed at me and started to beat me until I was black and blue.

"Just when I thought I was going to die, a daring man walked through the doorway. He opened his mouth to talk, but I couldn't hear anything. He must have said something because the men around me backed away in fear and let me go. I felt so relieved that I must've lost consciousness but I remember the man smiling at me before I did. When I came to, I was in a bed and a boy my age was sitting at the bedside. He saw me and told me not to move and went to go get the man who had saved me. The man told me everything; that he was a mafia man, but was for peace, that he brought the family I was after to justice and that he had adopted me and brought me to his home. He asked me if I was mad at him for bringing me into a mafia family, and surprisingly, I said no. To this day I live to serve whoever is the boss of the Mezzanotte family, which was Rosetta's grandfather and is now her father."

Once he was done, Dino asked him, "How come you are in the mafia when they are your enemy?"

"I chose to join the Mezzanotte family because their motive is peace," Antonio replied with determination. "That and, as a member, I can stop other mafia families from doing bad things to people like what they did to me."

"Yeah, all the Mezzanotte famiglia support each other and help bring peace." Rosetta added in with a smile. "There are lots of people that are members in the Mezzanotte family that aren't in the inner circle, like Uncle Antonio, so they are branded with a special tattoo that notifies others that they belong in the family."

"How big is the family?" Dino asked out of curiosity.

Antonio and Rosetta looked at each other before facing Dino and answering seriously, "That would be classified information only disclosed to the Mezzanotte famiglia."

"What!?" the young Cavallone asked with disappointment "Why?"

"Sorry Dino, that's just how it is." Rosetta replied, still serious.

Reborn added to this with, "The only way you can know the answer is if you marry a Mezzanotte."

Dino flinched with surprise while blushing profusely. Fortunately for him, Rosetta didn't notice as she watched the scenery rush by out of the car window. Antonio did and flashed him a thumbs up, which made him blush even more.

This was going to be a long school year…

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the wait. This was actually a version of the original story, but the only text that actually got in with minimal corrections was Antonio's description and back story. Anyway, great stuff! I drew a cover for this story and it'll be there when you click on it from my profile! I wanted to put Dino in it, but I felt that it would be a little more zoned in on the conflict between the Mezzanottes, so no Dino (cross your fingers for Valentine's Day though)! You can see the bigger version of the cover on my deviant (web address on my profile).<strong>

**Thanks for those of you who have been reading and adding this to your faves and alerts! Reviews are much appreciated too!**


	8. A Growing Popularity

The next few weeks passed by and before he knew it, Dino and Rosetta had been attending school together for about four months. Of course they seemed to go by slowly, being chocked full of random appearances of Reborn, Squalo practically shouting every time he decided to show his face, Emilio rubbing Dino the wrong way by being a showoff and flirting with Rosetta at every chance he got, and let's not forget Reborn and Rosetta's uncle – more Reborn than Antonio – teasing him about his possible feelings for Rosetta!

Sure Reborn had made his somewhat boring life into a nightmare, but Rosetta had made it a roller coaster of uncertainty!

There was one good thing about it though, and that was the slowly gaining popularity he seemed to be getting from students who had never even so much as looked at him last year!

As soon as it had started, they had asked him to come out and show off his skills, they saw him use in his battles. This was of course all because Rosetta was present for each of them but no one knew that. So Dino asked if his friend would come along, and she was on board with it at first, but something that day had totally changed her mind…

"So who is it this time?" Rosetta asked at lunch time after the young Cavallone had come up to her with that look he had when he was about to asked if she could help him.

Dino blushed a little before answering with, "Well, it's a bunch of girls…" – he trailed off as he saw Rosetta's frown – "But you see they would shun me if I didn't agree. So please?"

His friend crossed her arms and rose her eyebrow with an unimpressed expression on her face. Dino had been asking nonstop for a couple months, and she was starting to get bored and lonely, because Dino had been hanging out with these popular people more than with her.

But he was happy, so what harm would it do her if she agreed to be there for him one more time?

Rosetta let out a sigh before uttering a soft, "Fine…" and was immediately grabbed by the wrist and quickly led to a clearing where about twenty female students were waiting.

There she was greeted with twenty unwelcoming facial expressions before Dino explained that he needed her here. The females then backed off, but Rosetta still felt an air of slight hostility so she leaned against a tree a good distance away from the crowd.

Proudly the young Cavallone demonstrated his skills with his whip while his spectators "Ooed" and "Ahhed". All the while Rosetta was bored to tears from seeing the same demonstration over and over again. She couldn't wait for it to finally be over.

Soon it was all over and Rosetta started to leave, but stopped when her name reached her ears…

"Wow you were so great Dino!" on female voice was heard as the others left the two behind. "I just have one tiny request... You know that girl you brought over with you earlier?"

"Yeah Rosetta. She's my friend…" Dino started, but was cut off by the girl saying, "Yeah her. She needs to go. I don't like her here. She gives me that look as if she wants you all to herself."

Rosetta looked back at that time to see the female hugging all over him, which made the blood rise to her cheeks.

When Dino wasn't looking to where Rosetta was, the girl gave the young Cavallone a peck on the cheek and then turned to smirk at Rosetta.

That was it for her. Rosetta shot a hurt look at them just as Dino was looking again and ran off.

"Rosetta, wait!" he said before trying to follow her, but was stopped by the girl who kissed him on the cheek.

"You don't need her anymore when you've got me now Dino." She said.

By the time Rosetta had gotten a good distance away from her friend and that girl, lunch had ended and it was time for the next class.

At this moment, Rosetta wanted to put as much distance between her and Dino as she could. She didn't care if he was following her or not. All she wanted to do was run. That was going to be hard, considering that not only they shared the same classes, but she was living at his place too.

She slowed her pace as she made her way to the next class, thinking, _'I can't believe Dino let her do that! …Did he even like it? I couldn't see his face, so I don't know. For all I know he probably did…'_

"…etta. Rosetta?" she heard a male say from beside her, bringing her from her thoughts.

She stopped and looked to her right where the male's voice came from and saw Emilio standing there with a concerned look on his face.

When he saw that he had her attention, he continued. "Are you okay? He asked. "I saw you walk by the classroom making quite the array of different expressions."

Rosetta looked back in the direction she came from and saw that she had indeed passed right by her destination. Turning back to Emilio, she finally answered his question, "Yeah, I was just…um…thinking about something. That's all." – she paused – "Would you mind if I sat by you during the rest of our classes?"

A look of genuine surprise flashed on his face for a moment before he asked, "What's that all of a sudden? Did you and Cavallone come to a disagreement?"

"Something like that…" Rosetta stated while looking down and away as they made their way into the classroom and to their seats.

Unfortunately for her, the female who had kissed Dino – her name she now found was Mariella – had this very same class with them. And guess what? She was all over Dino the whole time.

Rosetta tried to keep her focus on her work, but could feel Dino's stare boring into her and Emilio. She just put it out of her mind and counted down until the last minute of the school day.

At the end of the day, Rosetta walked ahead on the way home, while Dino was held back by his new _girlfriend_. Who knew what the two of them were doing. She didn't care, but why had the thoughts wormed her way into her head anyway?

'_At any rate, I'm never helping Dino with his little demonstrations ever again!'_ she thought with a huff as she stomped up to the front door of the Cavallone mansion.

* * *

><p><strong>Another short chapter, but I didn't want to write any more for this one. To make up for it, I have two chapters in one day for you guys! I finished the only other fanfic I had going so hopefully I can focus fully on this one. Hope you enjoy the rest of your holidays!<strong>


	9. Crumbling Friendship

Days turned into weeks as Rosetta continued to ignore the young Cavallone.

Dino tried time and again to confront her on the matter of his popularity and his new cling on girlfriend. The last time he had done so, it did not end very well…

"Rosetta, will you just please listen to me?" he tried to reason with her, but she was having none of it. He paused before asking another question, "Would you at least tell me why you're ignoring me?"

More silence from his friend followed. He sighed, and was about to leave her alone for a while, when she finally answered.

"I thought you had already figured it out by now, since your _girlfriend_ thinks you're so smart." She snapped with her back turned to him.

"Rosetta, Mariella is not my…" he said, trailing off as he watched her walk away. "…girlfriend…"

He gave up after that, seeing that she probably needed was some time to herself.

'_Geez, why are girls so complicated?'_ he thought while resting on his bed after school one day.

He thought of Rosetta, and her stubbornness to not listen to him, and then he thought of Mariella, who still wanted to cling to him desperately, despite the fact that he had pushed her away to begin with.

Ever since Rosetta had started to ignore him, his slowly increasing popularity was now quickly decreasing. This was of course because Rosetta was no longer there for him during his demonstrations. He would slip up and the spectators left right away. Mariella would stay, much to Dino's chagrin, for she thought it was cute whenever he would trip over himself.

That's when he had had enough. He broke off their "relationship" (if there was one) and she ran off saying he was "going to regret pushing her away".

So now he was alone, friend wise. And he felt that he had deserved it, with how he had treated Rosetta in the past few months.

He had used her, rather than inviting her to spend time with the popular students and him. Would this situation then be different than it was now? He had only hoped it would have been, because it was too late now.

Dino then decided that from then on, he would give Rosetta the space she needed, so that she could calm down and they could become friends again soon.

Hopefully…

The mornings were the most awkward for Dino. He couldn't really say the same for Rosetta, but they were especially so for him.

You see, from the moment Rosetta had decided to ignore Dino, she would walk to and from school every day to avoid riding in the enclosed limo with Dino. At first, he would go ahead and ride the limo alone, but that made him feel guilty for leaving Rosetta exposed like that, special skills or no.

So he started to lag behind her purposely, and walk about a mile behind her. Sure some mornings he would be a little late, but it was a price worth paying if it was for Rosetta's safety.

That's what he was doing this morning, ever since he had decided to go through with it. Although, every other time, he would just hang back beside the gate to watch his (ex) friend go around the campus to do whatever.

But he was feeling especially curious today.

So he followed her as quietly as he could, watching as Rosetta wandered around inside and outside the school. That's what he thought at first, but now it seemed as if she was looking for something…or someone…

"Good morning Squalo!" Rosetta greeted as she walked up to the silver haired teen with a bright smile. "What are you up to today?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm training." Squalo replied with his usual temper while glaring at the girl who appeared next to him. "Why don't you leave me alone and go hang with Dino?"

Rosetta's smile slowly faded and was replaced with a frown, her eyebrows knitting together as she looked away. "Dino and I…haven't been on good terms lately…" she muttered.

'_That's for sure…'_ the young Cavallone thought from his hiding place while biting his lip with a concerned look upon his face.

Squalo gazed at her for a moment before going back to practice swinging his sword.

After a moment he stopped and said, "Didn't I see you with the principal's son the other day?" – he looked to her – "Why don't you go pester him instead?"

"Well," Rosetta exclaimed with a slight hurt look while she crossed her arms. "I was just going to keep you company but now I see that I'm not wanted here…"

She then turned and stalked away just as the first bell rang. Dino then went to his first class a different route that Rosetta had taken and went about the usual morning of difficult class assignments and being alone once again.

All throughout the day and the week that came Rosetta spent most of her time sitting and being with Emilio. As Dino watched them, all he could feel was the pain left from seeing the two laughing and smiling together. It was almost as if Rosetta had made Emilio his replacement. Dino could feel his blood boil a little at seeing them together. Before he knew it, those jealous feelings bubbled up until he let them all out on Rosetta one day when they ran into each other during lunch…

"Hey," Dino said after he had just realized he bumped into his ex-friend.

"Hello Dino." Rosetta greeted stiffly in response.

The young Cavallone paused a moment before stopping Rosetta from leaving by saying, "Rosetta, we need to talk."

"What about?" his friend asked, still stiff, but in a slight tone of curiosity.

"We need to talk about Emilio…and you." He said as Rosetta looked taken aback. "What's your relationship with him?"

"What does it matter to you?" Rosetta replied with her question.

For a moment Dino was lost for words as he tried to find them. "Well, that's because…um…uh…" he said before finally letting it out. "I don't want you spending time with him!"

Rosetta was surprised as the blood rushed to her cheeks and she gazed at him with anger. "Why?" she demanded.

"I don't know!" Dino said, also getting heated up. "I just don't want you hanging around with him!"

"Well, I don't care what you want or don't want me to do!" Rosetta stated. "I'm going to do what I want to do and that's the end of it Dino!"

With that she turned and walked away with her fists balled as Dino shouted after her "Well forget you!" went his own way, and ended up running all the way to a lonely hill, tripping over nothing and sliding down to a heap at the base.

* * *

><p><strong>And here's the second chapter! In the next one we'll get to see something that you'd never read Squalo do! If you want to find out, then you'll have to wait until I put it up! I hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays!<strong>


	10. Squalo a Matchmaker?

After tripping and falling down the hill, despite the pain that he felt all over, his heart felt the worst. He was an idiot for talking to Rosetta like that and trying to control her life. He was also angry at himself as he lay there glaring up at the clouds rolling by casually in the sky without a care in the world.

Why couldn't he just be a cloud, or even anything else that wasn't him? Then he wouldn't have to deal with this thing called life…

A while later he relaxed a little, and he moved his arms to rest behind his neck, but he caught a flower stem in one of his hands. Picking it up from the ground, Dino sat up and stared at the many white petals clinging to the middle of the flower.

'_I wonder…'_ he thought to himself while staring at the flower curiously.

He didn't know why, but suddenly he felt the urge to play the game that all girls play with flowers.

"…She loves me…" he mumbled hesitantly to himself as he pulled one of the petals away from the center. "…She hates me…She loves me…She –." – he sighed as he paused for a moment – "Who am I kidding? She probably hates me right now…"

"VOI! Quit that you sissy!" a familiar loud voice was heard from beside Dino, followed by that familiar sword swinging towards his face.

To dodge it, Dino fell to his back, narrowly avoiding it, but he couldn't say the same for the flower. The whole bud was lopped off and lying in the young Cavallone's lap.

"That stupid game isn't for men!" Squalo exclaimed as Dino sat up with the flower pieces in his hands. "It's only for girls and sissies! What's wrong with you?!"

"I don't know…" Dino replied, breathing out the words tiredly while he tossed the decapitated flower away. He paused for a moment, then continued, "It's Rosetta. Ever since she came to stay…" – he stopped, correcting himself – "Ever since she changed, it's driven me crazy. I was so nervous to even stand beside her but now that she's avoiding me, I can't stand us being away from each other! I'm just so confused right now…"

As he finished, he buried his face in his hands, then ran them through his golden locks with a deep sigh.

"…Do…Do you think I'm in love with her, Squalo?" Dino asked after a few minutes of silence while gazing into the horizon.

"How should I know?!" the silver haired teen shouted moodily from beside him. "I'm not mushy like you!" – he paused for a long moment – "Besides, I think you've already figured that out for yourself."

"You're right!" Dino exclaimed as he stood with determination. "I should go and tell her how I really feel right now!"

He then turned and left up the hill as Squalo stated half to himself, "Yeah, go have fun with that," but the blonde then returned with a dejected look on his face.

"Who am I kidding Squalo?" he said half to himself with a frown. "She's never going to talk to me! Not after that argument we just had…"

Squalo, a little tired from what he had just gone through, stood up and stalked off, never getting any questioning from the depressed Dino. He was done with all that mushy stuff, but what he didn't know was that he would be helping another in much the same way…

"Hi Squalo…" Rosetta greeted the silver haired teen as she sat beside him.

"What do you want now, woman?" he asked with a tone to make her go away, but she didn't get the memo.

"Oh, nothing really." She replied before continuing with, "Actually, Dino and I had an argument earlier. He said he didn't want me spending time with Emilio! Can you believe the nerve of that guy?!"

Squalo sighed annoyingly while resting his chin on his palm before Rosetta decided to continue with her rant.

"Although…It might be my fault too. I'm the one who didn't even give Dino a chance to explain himself." She continued sadly. "He probably thinks I've replaced him with Emilio…" – she held her face in her hands with shame – "Oh the mess we've gotten ourselves into…"

"Maybe you should go fix it so I can finally be in peace…" Squalo muttered with halfhearted anger, but he was still – oddly enough – concerned for those two. "You should go talk with him." He advised loud enough for her to hear.

Rosetta gasped with surprise as she gazed at him with shock. Never had she expected such a negative person as Squalo suggest such a thing.

**It might have been weird to hear it from his lips, but he was right.**

"Um Squalo?" Rosetta asked uncertainly before standing. "Where is Dino right now?"

"He's probably still at the base of the hill behind the school." The silver haired teen replied before seeing the girl run away to go set things straight with her friend. He called out, "VOI! You'd better not tell anyone that I helped you! I don't want my reputation ruined!"

It seemed as if Rosetta had said something, but she was too far away to hear and all he could hear was her laughing.

"Man I'm in for it now…" Squalo muttered with a tired tone in his voice. "I'm getting mushy and it's their fault! Heh…"

Rosetta ran all the way, despite the pain in her chest and stopped at the crest of the hill, facing Dino who was coming up. He stared at her silently with shock, as she gazed down at him, panting heavily from running so far.

"R-Rosetta?!" he finally uttered with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

A few more moments passed as his friend caught her breath and then she spoke.

"I came here…to apologize." Rosetta answered. Seeing that he was opening his mouth to intervene, she continued, "No, don't say anything until I've finished. I wanted to say sorry for the way I've been treating you. I should've let you explain yourself but I was so mad at you. I shut you out and I'm sorry for doing so." – she paused for a moment – "And I'm sorry I didn't take your feelings into account when I started hanging out with Emilio more…"

Dino was silent for a moment more, and when he saw that Rosetta was done, he started with his apologies.

"I'm sorry too, Rosetta, for the way _I've _treated _you_. I shouldn't have left you out of the times when I was invited to hang out with the popular people." He said steadily. "I'm also sorry that I snapped at you the way I did earlier. And Mariella really isn't my girlfriend."

"I kind of thought so, because I didn't see the two of you together anymore." Rosetta said with a smile.

"So…are we friends again?" Dino asked reluctantly.

For a while, his friend stood at the peak with her hands on her hips and a defiant look on her face and Dino thought he had lost a friend. He looked away but was greeted with something falling against him.

He looked and saw that Rosetta was hugging him tightly. Surprised and blushing, Dino reluctantly hugged her back, and then smiled to himself because he had his friend back. Rosetta then pulled away a little too soon and she was smiling too.

"You know though," she said as they made their way back up the hill and home. "You're gonna have to at least tolerate Emilio. We've become good friends and I don't want your rivalry to ruin it."

"Really?!...Well I can't force you away from him…" Dino stated in response. "I'll try, but only if he'll cooperate…"

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, I'm on a little roll! That makes ten chapters and we're well on our way to present time! Sorry it's been so choppy with all the time skips but I'm just not good at writing day to day life.<strong>

**Thanks for all the support and favoriting that you've done and reviewing is encouraged!**


	11. Goodbye (For Now)

Soon February came in a flash, as did Valentine's Day. As he had promised, Dino "became friends" with Emilio, although it was more like they acted friendly when Rosetta was around, and then they would be rivals again if it was just the two of them.

In fact, Emilio wasn't just his rival, but now he was officially Dino's rival in gaining Rosetta's love. And the both of them were planning on declaring their love today – Valentine's Day.

"Just you wait Cavallone," Emilio stated that morning, bursting with confidence. "Before the day is over Rosetta will be mine."

"Well before then I will have told her." Dino blurted out with not much confidence but anger instead.

"Better hurry up then." His bespectacled rival commented as he pat Dino's back once and left before flashing a teasing smirk at the young Cavallone.

'_Ugh…I'm never going to be able to win Rosetta's affections before Emilio does…'_ he thought as he rested his head against his locker with a thunk. _'And all I've thought of was this.'_

He then went fishing through his messy backpack and pulled out a small black box with a letter attached to it. Inside the box was a simple little trinket – a little rose preserved in a small glass tube linked to a necklace. It wasn't much, but it was a literal meaning for Rosetta's name*. As for the letter, it enclosed all of Dino's secret feelings for Rosetta.

He hoped that she would like it, but Dino was worried that she might end up with Emilio in the end. Still, he had to get his feelings across, and that meant giving his present to her in person…

"H-Hey there Rosetta!" he greeted awkwardly before the start of their first class. Inside he was thinking, _'Rgh, that was too much! Now she's gonna start suspecting me!'_

Fortunately for him, Rosetta only heard his greeting and didn't happen to see his overly cheerful smile. Nonetheless, she turned to him with a heart melting smile and replied with, "Good morning Dino! I thought you were going to be late when you told me to go ahead."

"Yeah well…I was just…finishing up an essay for…something." The young Cavallone stated in response, pausing occasionally to continue his made up on the spot story. "Sorry for worrying you." – he paused for a moment, thinking now was the time to give her his gift – "Um, Rosetta?"

"Yes Dino?" she stated with slight confusion and curiosity.

He started to say something, but it got caught in his throat and he stayed like that for a while. Finally he managed to utter, "You…uh…You look nice today," right before the bell rang and he looked down at his desk in shame.

'_I can't!'_ he thought with his eyes clenched firmly shut. _'I can't do it!'_

All day, Dino tried to present Rosetta with his gift, but constantly failed, over and over again. Surprisingly, Emilio held off on declaring his love each time they were in the same class as him, probably because he was super confident that he was going to have Rosetta at his side by the end of the day.

But there was something unexpected that none of them even saw coming…

It was lunch time, and Dino and Rosetta were having lunch with Squalo – a very rare occasion – when Emilio walked up to their table with a grave expression on his face.

"Rosetta, my father would like to speak with you." He said as the three sitting exchanged questioning looks. Finally, she stood and so did Dino, as he intended to accompany her, but Emilio stopped him.

"He would like to speak with her alone." Emilio continued firmly.

For a silent moment, Dino narrowed his eyes at his rival, and then relaxed before sitting back down. As the two boys watched her follow Emilio into the building, the young Cavallone asked, "What do you think the principal needs to talk to her about?"

"I don't know." Squalo answered seriously. "But it can only be bad news, with the way the principal's son looked…"

Meanwhile, Rosetta was getting a little anxious on their walk to see Emilio's father. She had never been to an office on any occasion, but she knew this time, it had to be bad. The grim expression on Emilio's face said it all. She hadn't done anything against the rules, so she knew she wasn't in trouble.

So why was she being called?

Rosetta sighed and knew that could only be answered when she was sitting face to face with the principal…

When she walked through the door opened for her by Emilio, she was surprised at who she saw in the office.

"Uncle Antonio?!" Rosetta exclaimed, now standing before him. "What are you doing here?!"

"As your family member, he too is entitled to the information I am about to disclose to you." The gruff voice of the principal made it's way to Rosetta's ears and she turned to the reigning authority of the school.

He was very tall, taller than even her uncle and his build was quite broad despite the lifestyle he led, sitting nearly all day and straightening out delinquents. He had the same dark hair as Emilio with streaks of greying hair throughout but his eyes were a striking silver white color that seemed to pierce into your very soul. Despite the grave look on his face, Rosetta could pick out the laugh lines that she saw branching from the corners of his eyes. He wore a simple dark grey suit with a deep red button up shirt and he had a silver colored tie around his neck.

"Please close the door Emilio." He stated simply as his son did so.

Once they were all standing in the quiet office for what seemed like forever, Rosetta broke the silence by asking, "What did you call Uncle Antonio and me in for, Mr. Alfieri?"

"Unfortunately it's not good news, I fear," the principal stated seriously as Rosetta tensed up. "Just an hour ago we received a report that the whole of the inner circle of the Mezzanotte famiglia…has been slaughtered…"

"What?!" Rosetta uttered with a shocked expression much the same as her Uncle's beside her. "No, this can't be! You lie!"

"I would never lie…" Mr. Alfieri explained as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Pulling it down and revealing his tattooed Mezzanotte mark, he finished his sentence, "…to one of my own."

Gazing at the tattoo, the tears started to flow down Rosetta's cheeks in rivers as she broke down and started to sob. Emilio stared down at the ground with his eyebrows knitted together in frustration from his place by the door while Antonio helped Rosetta into a seat and Mr. Alfieri righted his shirt and tie.

Once Rosetta had stopped sobbing and calmed down, the principal decided to continue with his report. "Of course the fact that they've been slaughtered isn't entirely true. They haven't recovered the bodies yet." He explained, earning a gasp of surprise from the two of them. "All they've found was blood everywhere and a house in ruins. My deepest condolences, Miss Mezzanotte, but we must move on to other matters." – he paused as she lifted her head and nodded with tears still in her eyes – "Those investigating in this case cannot go on with it until you are present."

"So you want us to go and head the investigation?" Antonio asked casually.

"In a word, yes," Mr. Alfieri replied before shifting his gaze to Rosetta. "Although it is purely your choice of whether to go or not, Miss Mezzanotte."

All was silent for a moment while everyone gazed to the only living Mezzanotte by blood.

Finally she stood and said with determination, "I'll do it," – she turned to her uncle – "Uncle Antonio, we'll be leaving right away, but I must do something first…"

A few minutes later, Rosetta was standing at the front gate with Emilio, a sleek black sports car on standby with Antonio waiting inside.

"You don't want to say good-bye to Cavallone?" Emilio asked even though he didn't want to.

"No, it would be too hard for me to say goodbye to him now." Rosetta replied solemnly before handing an envelope to him. "Could you give this to him though? It will let him know at least where I've gone…"

Emilio accepted the letter hesitantly before he raised his face to meet Rosetta's gaze.

For a moment the two stayed like that, until Emilio uttered suddenly, "Rosetta. I-I'll always be here, should you need anything. Anything at all." – he paused with pursed lips – "Up…Up until now I didn't want to join my father in serving my duty to the Mezzanotte family, but…but meeting you has changed that…because…because I love you Rosetta Mezzanotte!"

Instantly red flared up on Rosetta cheeks as her eyes widened in shock, but all that changed quickly when sadness crept on her face and she looked away.

"I'm…I'm really quite flattered Emilio," she said in response before meeting his eyes once more. "But my heart…It belongs to someone else…I'm sorry."

He quickly deflated, but caught himself before he lost it and turned away from her while asking, "I'm guessing that someone else is Cavallone then?"

"Y-Yes." Rosetta uttered as the blush found its way to her cheeks once more.

"Don't worry. I'll give him the letter," Emilio interrupted her before she could apologize again. "You should go now. I hope you find out what really happened to your family…"

Rosetta nodded in agreement before heading to the car. As soon as she placed her hand on the handle, she heard her name being called by Emilio. She turned to see an angered and yet determined look on his face.

"Rosetta!" he called out again. "I'm promising you that I'll become even cooler than Cavallone so that you can't help but fall in love with me!"

Rosetta flashed a smile in his direction before opening the car door and climbing in. She gave one last wave to the school, Emilio, and her friends before leaving, not sure if she when she was going to return…

The last bell of the day had rung and Emilio ended up finding himself standing before one of the trash bins in the hallway, holding Rosetta's letter for Dino above it. He tried to let go of it, but his hand wouldn't respond. He paused for a moment, and then attempted to throw it in, but he froze with his arm raised above his head. He brought his arm down, glaring at the letter and growling inwardly before stomping off to find the person whom the letter was addressed to.

After a minute or so, he found the young Cavallone standing before his locker, glancing down the hallways and looking for his friend.

Just gazing at the male who had gained Rosetta's affections wordlessly had made Emilio's blood boil. But for a moment he wondered; had Dino known that she returned his love?

'_Probably not,' he thought. 'But who cares? All I'm here to do is deliver the letter and be done with it.'_

By this time, most of the students had evacuated the halls in a rush to get home to get ready for their dates, so Emilio had no trouble stalking up to Dino and slapping the letter to his rival's chest.

Emilio let go of it and strolled away, saying as he started to leave, "That's from Rosetta. You should probably read it when you get home…"

"Where is she?" he heard his rival ask.

"She's long gone by now," he answered. "But the letter should tell you everything you need to know…"

Emilio then turned the corner, leaving a slightly confused Dino to gaze at the letter questioningly before rushing home to read Rosetta's letter as soon as possible…

If Reborn had scheduled some type of after school training, nothing was told to Dino and he didn't see any evidence that his home tutor was nearby as he ran as fast as he could to his room. Closing the door behind him and dropping his backpack haphazardly on the floor, he scaled his room in the few steps it took to his desk. He quickly opened the envelope and sat down to read the contents of the letter written in Rosetta's script…

_To my dear friend Dino,_

_It pains me to say that I cannot reveal all to you, but I can tell you that something horrible has befallen my close family. Unfortunately I have been called to help unravel the mystery, and I don't know when I will be returning, but I can promise you that I will come back someday. Even though I won't be here for every step you take to becoming a boss, I just hope that you continue on that path and don't let anyone put you down. I know you will be a wonderful boss someday and I hope to see that in the near future. Give Squalo and Reborn all the best._

_I wish you all the best, Rosetta_

The letter was short, and it didn't give that much in where Rosetta was and what she was doing, but Dino somehow knew that she would keep her word, and that they would someday see each other again. He didn't know how long it would be, but he would be there to welcome her back with open arms. And then he would tell her the feelings he had for her…

* * *

><p><strong>*Rosetta means little rose in Italian, hence the little rose in the glass tube on the necklace that Dino was going to give her.<strong>

**And that concludes the past portion of the fanfic! Don't worry, it's not over yet! I did want to submit this on Valentine's day, but due to the plans I have and the fact that I already had this chapter all written out, I'm just gonna submit it today. Chapters should be coming out at least every week or every other week now that I have more planned in my head, so expect at least one or two more chapters this month before I take a break.**

**In the meantime, enjoy, fave, follow and review if you choose!**


	12. The Vongola Famiglia

~Present Day; Nanimori, Japan~

"…Today was such a tiring day…" Tsuna grumbled half to himself with a sigh as he was heading back home after his school day had ended.

Tsuna is just about your average fourteen year old junior high student who slacks off, gets below average grades on his work, and is…generally useless and called so by his peers. But there's another side to him. He's also – unwillingly – being mentored to become the Vongola Decimo (1) by none other than Reborn himself. Tsuna is about five feet and one inch tall with wild somewhat spikey light brown hair and brown colored eyes. He was currently wearing the Nanimori Junior High uniform, which consisted of a simple white short sleeved button up shirt with a red tie and black slacks and tennis shoes.

"You got that right, Juudaime (2)!" he heard a familiar male voice exclaim from beside him. He gazed over his shoulder to see…

"Gokudera! What are you doing here?!" Tsuna asked with surprise before noticing everyone else standing there with him. "Eh? Everyone else is here too?"

"Of course!" Kyoko replied happily.

"We scheduled a study session today." Haru added.

"Oh? We did…?" Tsuna said in response while he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I guess I forgot…"

"Well what are we waiting for?" Yamamoto asked.

"Let's go study to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted out as he pumped his fist in the air while everyone agreed.

The group then continued to head for Tsuna's house, while the young boss in training dreaded the possible craziness to come.

Gokudera is about five inches taller than Tsuna with straight silver hair that's parted in the middle of his face and ends at the base of his neck, flaring out a little. He has greenish silver colored eyes and is wearing the same uniform but usually wears several bands, punk style bracelets, and rings around his wrists and on his fingers.

Kyoko is the same height as Tsuna, with short orange brown hair and brown colored eyes. She's wearing the female Nanimori Junior High uniform, which is a dark blue pleated skirt and short sleeved button up shirt with a red bow tied around her collar. She was wearing black knee high socks and brown loafers as well.

Haru, Kyoko's friend, is also the same height with her brown locks in a ponytail with the exclusion of her bangs. She had brown colored eyes to match her hair. Haru is studying with the group, but she attends a different school – Midori Junior High – and is currently wearing the school uniform. This consisted of a short sleeved white button up shirt under a sleeveless crème colored sweater with a blue ribbon tied around her collar and a grey pleated skirt. She also wore black knee high socks and brown loafers.

Yamamoto is the tallest in the group at five feet nine inches tall with spikey black hair, slightly tanned skin and brown colored eyes. He also wore the Nanimori Junior High uniform with sweat bands around his wrists.

Ryohei – Kyoko's older brother – is the same height as Gokudera with short spikey white hair and grey colored eyes with a small scar over his left one. He was wearing the P.E. uniform which was a long sleeved track suit jacket over a simple white t-shirt and red track pants with tennis shoes.

Once the group had reached Tsuna's front door, he took a deep breath before opening it. No doubt Reborn was waiting inside with some new training regime for the teens.

"I'm home!" Tsuna announced after opening the door and walking into the hallway, making sure to remove his shoes before doing so.

"Ah, Tsuna! I see that you've brought some friends over!" his mother said happily in response as she emerged from the kitchen with a smile. "It looks like we'll be having a full house today!"

Nana Sawada is the same height as her son, with short brown hair and brown colored eyes. Being a housewife, she is usually seen wearing a yellowish tan apron over a simple button up shirt and long skirt.

Tsuna's eyes widened before he uttered with shock, "Eh?! Why's that?"

"Oh, Dino decided to pay a visit and he's brought over a friend of his…" Nana replied. "They are in the living room speaking with Reborn and having some refreshments. Why don't you go join them and I'll bring in some drinks for you and your friends?"

She then retreated back into the kitchen while Tsuna rushed over to the living room door and opened it. Inside he found his home tutor Reborn sitting on one side of the low rectangle table with Bianchi beside him.

Bianchi, Gokudera's older half-sister, stands at about five feet four inches tall with straight pinkish mauve colored hair that ended at her chest with grey colored eyes. She was currently wearing a light purple tank top under an open black shirt with blue jeans and the same type of accessories as her half-brother, with the addition of a pair of glasses resting on her nose.

Sitting on the opposite side of the table was Dino and next to him was a woman unknown to Tsuna who had Lambo and I-Pin playing beside her.

I-Pin and Lambo are both five year olds and are about the same height. I-Pin looked of Chinese descent with what black hair she had in a braid atop her head and her eyes are always squinting. She wears a red Chinese top and white pants. Lambo, on the other hand, was decked out in a black and white cow print onesie and had his black hair styled in an afro with little horns poking out of it. He had green colored eyes.

As soon as the door had opened the woman's gaze was directed right at Tsuna. She then stood and Tsuna got a good look at her.

She stood at about five feet seven inches tall with wavy brown hair that fell in rivers over her shoulders and stopped just below her chest. Her bangs were parted on the right side of her face and framed it perfectly. Clear blue colored eyes seemed to peer deep into his soul he could just make out a small dark blue star in her right eye. She was wearing a dusty pink tank top with teal jeggings and two necklaces hung around her neck. The shorter of the two had a small tube stringed on it and the longer one that rested on her chest had what looked like half a ring on it.

"Rosetta, this is dame-Tsuna (3)," Reborn announced with a smirk. "Tsuna, this is Rosetta Mezzanotte."

Before the young boss could say anything, the woman named Rosetta had walked over to him to size him up. At once she narrowed her eyes which made Tsuna a little nervous. Then she took him and his friends by surprise when she grabbed him by the shoulders with a fan girlish squeal.

"So this is the Tsunayoshi Sawada I've heard so much about!" she exclaimed with excitement before turning to where Reborn and Dino were sitting. "He reminds me so much of you when we were his age, Dino!" – she looked back to Tsuna with admiration – "He has so much potential…And I can see the fire in his eyes! His guardians look pretty strong too."

She walked over to face his friends and continued, "This would be Ryohei, I presume?" – to the white haired one – "And Yamamoto. I've heard your sword skills could rival my brother's." – to the now chuckling tan boy – "And Gokudera of course. Long time no see!"

She then came up to the girls saying, "I believe these two lovely young ladies are Kyoko and Haru." – she then turned to Tsuna and whispered slyly – "I can't wait to see which one you'll choose for your wife!"

"How do you know us?" Yamamoto then asked with genuine curiosity.

"Oh, Dino told me all about his travels here. I wanted to come too of course but I had my own duties to attend to." Rosetta answered with a smile. "From what Dino has told me about you Tsuna, I'd say that you'll become a great boss someday."

"Ah, so it's decided then?" Reborn asked after taking a sip of his coffee. "Looks like your destiny is set, Tsuna."

"Eh?!" his student exclaimed as he and his friends finally joined the others in sitting around the rectangle table. "Why?"

Dino then rested his arm around Rosetta's shoulder before answering with, "Well, it usually goes that when my wife says something, it usually happens."

There was a collective gasp from the teens and Tsuna exclaimed, "Eh? Rosetta-san is your wife Dino-san?!"

"Yes." The Cavallone boss replied with a soft smile towards Rosetta, who was blushing a little.

"Then why did Reborn introduce her as Rosetta Mezzanotte?" Gokudera asked with a stern expression on his face.

"I just didn't want to give it away while I was introducing you." Reborn replied.

Immediately the two young girls were the first to ask when the couple got married and it was Rosetta's turn to answer with, "We actually got married a few months ago, on Valentine's Day…"

"H-How did you two meet?" Tsuna asked a little hesitantly.

"Well, we actually grew up together and I attended high school with Dino for almost a year," Rosetta replied with a smile. "But then I had to leave to attend to family matters and I didn't come back until about six years later…" – she then chuckled a little – "It really is quite a silly story, how we met again…"

"Well then regale us with your tale." Reborn suggested while everyone else agreed.

After much persuasion and urging on, Rosetta decided to start as everyone settled in to hear their story of how they came back into each other's lives…

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Vongola Decimo: Vongola the tenth in Italian.<strong>

**(2)Juudaime: Tenth in Japanese (is the nickname Gokudera usually uses for Tsuna).**

**(3) Dame-Tsuna: Useless Tsuna in Japanese (Reborn's – and his peers' – nickname for Tsuna).**

**Hey sorry guys for all the descriptions for those of you who are well versed in the anime/manga, but I really wanted to add them in. They aren't that long so it should be okay.**

**Anyway, I'll probably be taking a break for the rest of the month and all of February because I want to focus on some special pics that will probably take a while to get done. But if I do have some free time I will try and get the flashback chapter(s) done and submitted (It'll probably happen anyway, but you know just in case).**

**There's a lot in store to look forward to for the Present Arc, so I hope you'll stick around!**


	13. Valentine's Confessions

_It was a relatively crisp early morning when Dino had returned from a scuffle that had happened when he was defending his territory. He had been up all night and was ready to go to bed, but he decided to go through some last minute paperwork, so he headed to his office instead. Instantly his guard went up as he found light flooding out from under the closed door._

'Did someone break in?' _was Dino's first thought as he gritted his teeth while opening the door slowly._

_Keeping his hand on his trusty whip – given to him by Reborn's chameleon, Leon – he edged through the doorway and up to his desk, where he found his seat facing towards the window. When he came closer to the chair, he could also hear a low, even breathing coming from it._

'Is there someone sitting in my seat…?' _he thought with curiosity, getting a little caught off guard. _'And it sounds kind of like…' – _he paused – _'…is someone sleeping there?!'

_Dino then slowly swung the chair around so he could see who was having a snooze in it. Was it one of his men? Or maybe it was a stranger. But it was actually…_

"_A woman?!" he exclaimed with shock while blushing, making her stir a little, so he continued in a hushed voice. "Why is there a woman in my chair?"_

_He was about to go looking for his right hand man, Romario, for an explanation when he noticed the woman's face and her long wavy reddish brown hair. As soon as he saw her he knew exactly who it was._

"_Rosetta…" Dino uttered her name softly as a smile made its way to his face. "What Squalo told me was true. She did come back."_

_Immediately he recalled his inheritance ceremony in which Squalo had informed the new boss that Rosetta had visited with him and would be coming by to see Dino again soon. The Cavallone boss was happy to finally see her again, but he really wished that Rosetta would have been there at the ceremony. At any rate, she was here now…and sleeping soundly in his chair. Dino stood up straight and sighed as he scratched the back of his head._

"_Hmm…How am I going to do this…?" he muttered, thinking of the best way to remove her without moving her too much and waking her up._

_He then tried a few methods, moving this way and that, not really picking her up until he was absolutely sure. Finally he settled on picking her up and holding her bride style. She stirred a little at first, but then relaxed, resting her head against his chest, which took him by surprise. Blushing all the while, Dino then walked slowly to the plush couch set not too far away from the desk and laid her down gently. He then removed his favorite coat – a nice durable tan colored coat with a black faux fur trim around the hood – and draped it over her shoulders to keep her top half warm at least. He stood back and watched her for a moment before remembering what he came to his office for in the first place, so he set off to his desk to get to work._

_A good couple of hours passed before Rosetta stirred and opened her eyes groggily, finding that she did not wake up where she had fallen asleep. She sat up slowly, discovering that she was lying on a couch with someone's coat draped over her upper body, but she had never left the room. She sat there for a few minutes as she pondered on these things until a young man's voice brought her back._

"_Oh hey, you're awake." Rosetta heard his voice resound from behind her._

_She didn't recognize the voice at first, but when she turned around to face the source, she was quite surprised at who she saw before her._

_Standing behind his desk was an older and more mature Dino. Silently in her head Rosetta figured that if she was eighteen, he was at least twenty. He had gained more toned muscle, and he grew a foot taller than the last time they had seen each other, making him six feet tall. He also grew out his golden locks, the slightly spiked ends stopping just as the base of his neck, almost hiding a couple of small blue flame tattoos. Speaking of tattoos, he had quite a few running down his left arm. She could see a tattoo of a yellowish orange sun with a C in the middle and his surname on a scroll over the bottom of it, just peeking out from under his t-shirt. Right under his elbow was a tattoo of a black horse rearing on its hind legs with blue flames behind it. Barbed wire was inked around his forearm with the word "Baracca" tattooed on his wrist over them. Finally there were a couple more small blue flames tattooed on his hand. He was currently wearing a simple red t-shirt and blue jeans with light blue converse._

_Even if he was dressed simply, Rosetta found herself even more attracted to the grown man before her._

"_Um…S-So…" she finally said bashfully as she lifted her gaze away. "Wow it's been a long time… Congratulations on your becoming a boss. I'm sorry I couldn't be there but something came up at the last minute…"_

"_It's okay. I mean, even though I really wanted you to come." Dino stated in response. "Still, the message from Squalo was more than enough to let me know that we would meet again."_

"_You surely surprised me when I saw you." Rosetta said with a chuckle. "You never seemed like the type of person to get so many tattoos…"_

_The Cavallone boss took a look at his left arm and said in reply, "Oh yeah. Once I got my first, I just wanted to get a few more, so before I knew it, my whole arm had been inked."_

_His statement then faded as an awkward silence fell between the two. This went on for a few minutes before Rosetta decided to break the silence._

"…_Well, it's getting late so I'm just going to go to my room to rest…" she stated hesitantly. "Um… You should probably get some too."_

"_Yeah I'll turn in for the night in a while." Dino agreed as he watched her turn and walk to the door. "Goodnight…Rosetta."_

_She flashed him a smile and wished him goodnight before opening the door and walking out. As she closed the door behind her, Rosetta rested her body against the wood and sighed._

'Wow. Dino has definitely grown into a handsome young man…' _she thought as a deep red blush rushed to her cheeks. _'No wonder he's the talk of the town with all the mafia women… I just hope I'm not too late…'

_Rosetta then made her way to her room as she said she would do to get some much needed rest…._

_Days went by as usual and Rosetta and Antonio moved in temporarily, because the Mezzanotte Manor was still under reconstruction and Dino had insisted that they stay at his manor rather than a hotel. After that first night, they didn't get to see much of each other, as they both had their duties as mafia bosses. Well, Rosetta wasn't a boss quite yet, as she had told him it was only temporary until…_

"_Until what?" Dino asked curiously one day._

"_I'm sorry Dino," Rosetta replied, immediately closing up on the matter as she took the halved ring in her grasp. "That's classified information…"_

_That's what she would usually do when the topic of her famiglia came up. He could tell that she hated to keep all these secrets from him, but he wasn't a Mezzanotte, so stay in the dark about these things he did._

_Other times when conversations were about normal things, there was a somewhat tense awkwardness in the air around them. Dino thought it had always been like this, but then he realized it may have been the time they had spent away from each other and the changes in their lives that they had gone through. Despite knowing, he still felt a little tense around the now more beautiful Rosetta, and today he was the most tense of all._

_Why? Because she had left to go meet the new principal of the school they attended together. And the new head of the school was none other than __**Emilio Alfieri**__ of course. Sure Dino and he had become friends (somewhat), but their rivalry was still strong between them. After all, Dino wasn't the only male who had grown from a skinny boy into a handsome man worthy of Rosetta._

_He was now as tall as Dino, still with the same hair and eye color, though his hair was a little more tamed and parted on the left side. He had ditched his glasses for contacts, and had a little more of a laid back attitude. He stayed with his casual classy look with his jeans and dress shirt but now wore a grey suit jacket over his shirt._

_It was no wonder that the man had gained just as many female admirers as Dino, but just like the Cavallone boss, Emilio had reserved his heart for only one woman, and that's what he was worried about at this moment._

_It was late afternoon when Rosetta returned to an anxious Dino who was waiting in his office for her. _

_As soon as she walked in through the doorway, Dino stood up quickly and asked, "So, how did your reunion with Emilio go?"_

_Rosetta sighed and took a seat at the couch before answering. "Well, he showed me around the school and I saw all of the new developments." She began before taking a breath and continuing hesitantly. "And then he took me by surprise…and proposed to me."_

_She then looked to Dino to see that his jaw had dropped a little and he was now sitting back down with a look of shock on his face._

_After a few minutes he asked, "So…um…What was your answer?"_

_The next few moments felt like hours to the Cavallone boss as he waited on baited breath for his friend's answer._

_Finally she said in reply, "I told him that it was all too soon and he was going too fast, especially with the fact that we hadn't seen each other in five years. He seemed to take it well, but I think I totally crushed his heart…"_

_Dino's heart soared at Rosetta's statement that proved that she was still single. He now had another chance to tell her how he really felt. But that chance would have to wait a while, considering the two didn't get many opportunities to have conversation that often. Therefore Dino could only watch the woman he admired from a distance, as he was doing right now through his office window._

"…_oss…Boss." He heard the voice of his right hand man Romario say repeatedly, bringing him back to reality._

_The Cavallone boss turned to Romario before waking from his daze._

_Romario stood as tall as Dino with short spikey black hair with slightly bushy eyebrows and a bushy mustache. He is usually seen wearing a simple black suit and tie with a white button up shirt._

"_Oh, sorry Romario." The Cavallone boss finally said while rubbing the back of his neck and noticing the papers in his right hand man's possession. "You wanted me to sign some papers?"_

"_Yes boss." Romario replied before noticing that his boss was watching Rosetta do her work outside for a change. "Were you watching Lady Rosetta again?"_

"_What?! Um…No…No I wasn't…" Dino answered, blushing a deep red._

_He then noticed that Romario was giving him a stare that seemed to say, "I know that you know that I know what you were really doing," and he gazed back at Rosetta before answering._

"_Yes…" Dino stated with a sigh, giving up. "What am I supposed to do, Romario if I can't tell her that I love her?"_

"_You'll never know whether she really returns your affections unless you do." His right hand man said in reply. "And if you don't you know what will happen…"_

"_Yeah, some other man will gain her love…" the Cavallone boss said what the both of them were thinking._

"_You were lucky that Lady Rosetta refused Mr. Emilio's proposal." Romario continued before gathering some finished paperwork to file. "But you may not get a chance like this again, Boss." He then left Dino, who was now busy formulating a plan to finally confess his love for Rosetta._

_And plan he did, but many of them either got scrapped or failed altogether. Either way, Dino never got to convey his feelings, but what he didn't know was that he didn't really need to do anything special. He would learn that the hard way, and this horrible rainy day was the day._

_Ironically enough, this horrible overcast day also happened to be Valentine's Day; the same day five years ago when Dino had tried – and failed – to tell Rosetta how he felt about her the first time through letter. The same letter Dino was now looking for in his desk to give him some inspiration and confidence, but couldn't seem to find._

"_Where is it?!" he asked himself while digging through one of the drawers in his desk. "I could've sworn I left it in here!" – he pulled out the box that had the necklace in it – "Here's the necklace, but where's the letter?"_

_He continued to search frantically before he eventually gave up and decided to wing it. Before he knew it, Dino found himself grasping for the right words to say in front of Rosetta's room. Once he was sure of the words he would use, he knocked on the door hesitantly._

_He heard a "Come in," and opened the door, walking in. As soon as he saw Rosetta's back facing towards him, he lost his confession, and couldn't find the words that he had practiced at the doorway. Silence fell between them and the only thing they heard was the rain pouring down on the roof outside the whole time._

_Finally Rosetta spoke._

"_You know, you could've told me Dino." She stated simply before turning to face him._

_At first, Dino was confused at what she had said, but then he noticed the folded white paper in her hand and knew. Rosetta had somehow found his letter and read it. Immediately the Cavallone boss' cheeks became a beet red before Rosetta had decided to continue._

"_I found it in the upper right drawer of your desk while I was looking for a paper clip. It had my name on it, so I took it here and read it." She said with a hurt expression apparent on her face. "I saw the date on the top. You meant to tell me five years ago before I left so why didn't you tell me?"_

_Dino calmed down and sighed while scratching his head. "What would it really do if I did tell you?" he replied with his question. "You still would have left me with unanswered questions."_

"_Yes, but I would have returned sooner, Dino." Rosetta stated as she walked up to him so they were standing only inches apart. "Because…" – she paused while blushing – "Ti amo troppo (__1)__, Dino…"_

_The Cavallone boss froze in a state of shock, blushing again. He almost couldn't believe what she was saying to him. Finally his emotions got the better of him and he took Rosetta up in a tight but gentle hug._

"_You have no idea how happy this makes me, Rosetta. I've been in love with you for so long…I-I don't know what I would do if you didn't love me back…" He whispered with a smile._

"_Me too, Dino." She said in response, a little tense at first, but then she relaxed and returned the hug, finally holding his strong form in her arms. The two of them stayed like that for a moment longer, and then parted hesitantly._

"_So…What do we do now?" Dino asked uncertainly._

"_Well, seeing as it's raining outside…" Rosetta replied before a loud boom of thunder sounded from above, making the both of them jump and she ran into his arms just as the lights went off. "Oh, sorry. The thunder scares me a little…"_

"_We'd better find a flashlight to get the lights back on first…" Dino commented seriously. "Then we can hang out for a while."_

_He then held onto her and the two of them slowly made their way out into the dark hallways to bring light back to the manor…_

"After that we became even closer, and a year later, he proposed to me, then we waited until Valentine's the next year to get married." Rosetta finished her story with a smile. "And what a fun reception it was! Reborn married us, and even Squalo agreed to be Dino's best man."

"Eh?! Really?" Tsuna exclaimed with surprise.

Rosetta nodded before continuing with, "Yes, Lussuria and Belphagor were even there, but they left pretty soon. Squalo stuck around for a while longer though."

"Yes he surely was the loudest at the party." Reborn stated simply.

At that point Nana poked her head through the doorway and said, "Dinner is ready everyone! Tsuna, your friends can stay for dinner, and Dino and Rosetta, you're welcome to stay during your time here in Japan."

"That would be great." Dino stated in reply. "Thanks mama (2)."

"Will your Uncle be okay staying at the hotel, Rosetta?" Reborn asked casually.

"Actually he's staying with a friend of the family, so he should be fine." She answered before following everyone into the dining area.

* * *

><p>…<em><strong>Omake…<strong>_

"_**Well, seeing as it's raining outside…" Rosetta replied before a loud boom of thunder sounded from above, making the both of them jump and she ran into his arms just as the lights went off. "Oh, sorry. The thunder scares me a little…"**_

_**Dino took one look out the window and said with fear, "I don't think that was thunder, Rosetta…"**_

_**She looked at him with a questioning look, then followed his gaze to the window and saw a huge amber eye peeping in through it!**_

_**She gave a little scream before asking, "D-Dino! Who's eye does that belong to?!"**_

"_**Actually…" he said with a sigh. "That's Enzio, my turtle. Reborn gave him to me and when he soaks up water he gets big…"**_

"_**What?!" Rosetta shouted with fear before the gigantic turtle let out a roar and chomped at the wall, breaking it in its mighty jaws. "Well if it's your turtle, Dino, round it up!"**_

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Ti amo troppo – means "I love you too" in Italian<strong>

**(2) Mama – pretty much what Nana wants everyone who has stayed in her home and Tsuna's friends to call her.**

**Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I actually finished this a couple weeks ago, but decided to hold it until today to submit. I hope you feel the love today and enjoy it with someone special.**

**By the way, I recently submitted a pic of Emilio (both past and present) to deviant art. If you would like to see it, then head on over to my DA profile through my profile here on fan fiction and you can see it in either my Katekyo Hitman Reborn! folder or my Sketches and Doodles folder. Hope you enjoyed!**


	14. Meeting Hibari

The next morning Tsuna woke up with a start and looked over to the clock, seeing that he had woken up a little late as usual. It didn't surprise him either, seeing as last night was so tiring at the dinner table and even afterwards.

Rosetta had met Futa, the ten year old famous for his rankings in the mafia world, and it got pretty hectic from there, as everybody wanted a ranking read for them and things were floating everywhere. In the end, everyone got to bed late after clearing out and putting the room back in order and most of them would be sleeping in, but not Tsuna.

He got up quickly and got dressed into his uniform, then headed downstairs for some breakfast before heading off to school.

"Oh, good morning Tsuna-kun!" Rosetta greeted happily just as the young Vongola boss in training walked into the room and sat at the table. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh, y-yeah, I guess…" he replied, a little shocked that she was up so early since she was the most energetic last night. He then noticed that she was wearing a long sleeved formal shirt under a blue vest with a dark blue pencil skirt and asked, "Why are you wearing such a formal outfit, Rosetta-san?"

"She'll be holding a special lesson on Italy for your class today." Reborn answered from his place at the table as he finished eating.

"Eh?! How did that happen?" Tsuna asked with surprise.

"I've got my connections…" Rosetta answered cryptically before noticing the time. "Oh, I've got to go now. See you in class, Tsuna-kun!"

And with that, she left in a hurry, dashing down the hall and closing the door behind her before shouting out a goodbye. As soon as she did leave, Reborn filled him in on her real motives.

"She's actually planning on meeting Hibari later to size him up in battle." The toddler hitman explained.

"Hiiee! She wants to meet Hibari-san?! In Battle?!" Tsuna exclaimed with surprise. "Does she even know how dangerous he is?!"

"She'll be fine." Reborn assured his student. "Rosetta may be a married woman, but she's also a mafia boss."

Tsuna shouted with surprise before he said, "Rosetta-san is a boss too?!"

"Yup, of the Mezzanotte family." Dino answered from the doorway, leaning on it.

"I've never heard of that name…" the Vongola boss in training mused.

"It's a top secret family, ranked first by Futa in the list of the most secret organizations." The Cavallone boss continued. "She doesn't reveal a whole lot of her job to anyone outside the family, not even to me…"

Reborn was oddly quiet while he sipped his morning cup of tea as his student commented that Rosetta was a little scary because she was so mysterious and he knew next to nothing about her. Finally he noticed that he was running a little late so he left, wondering if Rosetta was really going to be okay going up against Hibari.

"I guess I'll be heading out in a while…" Dino announced when he had been left at the table with his old tutor.

"Worried about your wife, Dino?" Reborn asked with a smirk.

"Ah…um no…Well, yes and no…" his old student replied, blushing as he fumbled with his answer. He sighed, then calmed down before continuing, "Don't get me wrong. I do believe in her but…Sometimes when she gets hurt she tends to hide it away and take it all on herself." – he paused as he reflected on his last few months with his wife – "I guess…I just wish that she would be a little more open with me and share her feelings…"

There was a long silence between the two males before Reborn decided to say, "I'm sure she will someday…"

The day went on as usual before Rosetta was due to come in and hold her special lesson on Italy. Surprisingly, his classmates received her well, especially the males. Her lecture was really interesting and she made it so for the whole class with participation. If Rosetta hadn't been a mafia boss, Tsuna believed that she would be great as a teacher, and also probably a mother. He then wondered if Rosetta had even had any kids, and before he knew it, class was over. He saw her leave, and he knew exactly where she was going.

She was headed to the roof…

"Ah, here we are…" Rosetta stated after she had scaled the steps to the door leading to the roof. She opened it, and then headed outside into the warm breeze. She strolled over to the edge and stopped before the chain link fence to look out at the scenery.

"Wow, you can almost see the whole neighborhood from up here. And the air is so fresh…" she commented with a content smile. "It's the perfect place to get some peace and quiet…isn't it, Hibari Kyoya?" She smirked with her arms crossed, noticing the tonfa in her peripheral vision.

"How do you know my name, woman?" he asked steadily from behind her, neither of them moving a muscle.

"My husband is your mentor." Rosetta answered simply.

"You're the wife of that blond herbivore?" Hibari questioned further, not losing his cool. "Hmph. You're not worth my time. Leave now or I'll bite you to death."

Rosetta then turned to face her husband's student to get a good look at him.

He was one inch shorter than her, with a mop of thick black hair and sharp grey colored eyes. He was currently wearing a long sleeved white shirt with black trousers, a brown belt around his waist, and black shoes. Draped over his shoulders he wore a black gakuran (1) jacket with a red armband that had the kanji for "disciplinary committee" on it pinned to the left arm. He had his tonfas at the ready in case she decided not to obey his order.

"Not worth your time?" she repeated, uncrossing her arms. "I'll make it worthwhile. How about a quick sparring session? I'm starting to get a little rusty and I want a real challenge."

"No." Hibari refused stiffly. "Leave."

"You may be thinking that I'm just another weakling, but I'm not." Rosetta stated seriously with narrowed eyes. "I'm actually stronger than Dino…"

That seemed to pique his interest, but he wasn't budging as he told her to leave once more.

"Very well, I guess you leave me no choice." She stated before putting her arms behind her back. She then balled her fists as she lowered her voice to a whisper saying, _**"Crush."**_

Instantly the metal of the fence sagged down as if a giant invisible hand had taken hold and crumpled it easily.

Hibari snapped just as quick, taking his first swing at her with one of his tonfas. Rosetta quickly dodged, moving around behind him so she could put some space between herself and her opponent. She then easily ripped off her outer clothing to reveal that she was wearing a grey tank top and tight blue shorts to her knees underneath. She kept her shoes on because they were just comfortable flats. Quick as a flash she had her retractable staff out and at the ready to block oncoming attacks. Meanwhile Hibari had turned around and attacked Rosetta once again, which she blocked in time.

'_Whoa, he's fast!'_ she marveled while barely blocking a barraged of his attacks. _'Looks like I need to pick up my defense if I don't want to get too injured!'_

She then made an attempt at attacking Hibari, but he dodged and continued with another barrage of attacks. Rosetta chose the exact moment and then ducked away using her Illusione ability. She used this to then attack Hibari, but he counterattacked as if he had known exactly where she would appear.

"Dino taught you well…" Rosetta commented after they had clashed.

"That herbivore is no teacher." Hibari retorted before pulling back.

He then swung his tonfa for a final attack, and struck it home before his eyes widened a little with shock. Rosetta had brought her arm up to take his attack full on. But that's not what took him by surprise. She had blocked his attack and taken that opportunity to take a swing at his side. And she hadn't missed.

"That was pretty clever." He commented with a smirk as they stayed like that.

"Thanks, but I think all of the credit goes to you." Rosetta stated in reply. "Look. My arm is still shaking because of your strong swing."

The two then took a step back from each other, and Rosetta fell to her knees out of exhaustion. Hibari looked down on her for a moment, holding his ground even though his side hurt.

He then turned with a "Hmph," and said to her, "I'll call this a draw for now, though I'm holding you responsible for the payment of the destroyed fence." – he then started to leave – "I look forward to a rematch…"

"Rosetta-san, are you okay?" Tsuna asked as he ran onto the roof with Yamamoto and Gokudera in tow. "Where's Hibari?"

"He just left." She replied before a playful smirk played on her lips. "Why, did you want to spar with him too, Tsuna-kun?"

"Eh?! N-No!" the young Vongola boss in training exclaimed before he noticed the growing bruise on Rosetta's arm. "Rosetta-san! Your arm!"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I've had worse." She stated while waving it off. "I'll just have Antonio patch it up later."

As Tsuna was wondering exactly who this "Antonio" was, someone else made their way onto the roof.

"How about I take care of it, Señorita?" he asked. "I am a certified doctor, after all."

Everyone looked to see the suave Dr. Shamal, with his short black hair and stubble, and his brown eyes, not to mention his signature look; a black formal shirt with a red tie and white suit jacket with pants and brown shoes.

"That's quite alright, Dr. Shamal, I'm –." Rosetta started, but was interrupted by the suave Italian man.

"Nonsense!" he said as he approached her. "We can't have a beautiful young lady like you walking around with such a wound."

He took her hand in his lovingly, but backed away quickly before a kunai was thrown in between them.

"Uncle Antonio!" Rosetta exclaimed with relief while Tsuna was surprised to see the man standing atop the chain link fence, wearing a green silk changshan (2) outfit.

"You may not touch Lady Rosetta before going through me." He announced after he had jumped down.

"Hmph. I knew you wouldn't be too far behind if Rosetta-chan came here…" Dr. Shamal commented seriously. "I'll leave for now but next time I expect a kiss from you Rosetta-chan!"

He then turned and left as everyone relaxed now that the playboy had gone. Antonio approached Rosetta and took care of her wounds. While he was doing this, Tsuna wanted to ask a question that was evident on his face, and Rosetta noticed this.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that my Uncle came with us too." She said casually when her arm was bandaged. "Tsuna, I would like you to meet my Uncle, and also my right hand man of sorts, Antonio Mezzanotte." – she turned to her uncle – "Antonio, this is Tsuna, the one who was chosen to be the Vongola Decimo."

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Tsuna." Antonio greeted, kneeling before the confused young boy. "And thank you in advance for allowing my lady to stay at your home."

"Oh, um…It's nothing really." A flustered Tsuna stated in reply.

Rosetta then checked her watch and saw it was almost time for the teens to get back to class, but not before she invited Gokudera and Yamamoto for dinner.

Tsuna asked why and she gave her answer with a smile, "Because I'll be making an authentic Italian dinner as thanks tonight." – she then noticed it was time – "Oh you need to get going to class. I'll see you all later!"

"Don't you need to leave too?" Yamamoto asked, gesturing to the door they were about to head to.

"Yes, but I'm going to fix this fence first." Rosetta answered with a smile, ignoring the young males' confused expressions. "You need to go on ahead to class or you'll be late!"

The three boys then left the roof and that was when Tsuna noticed Gokudera's uneasy expression. He asked what was wrong and his right hand man gave him this answer.

"You know that Rosetta invited us to dinner?" he started uncertainly. "Well, whenever she visited with our family, she would cook as thanks for us having her. Her cooking isn't as bad as my sister's Poison Cooking, but she burns it to charcoal so that it's beyond edible!"

To that, Tsuna and Yamamoto gulped nervously and the boss to be asked, "What do we do then?"

"Well, if you don't eat it…" Gokudera replied gravely, but then he went silent, making the other two males even more uneasy, and they were like that for the rest of the day, until they were standing before Tsuna's front door….

* * *

><p><strong>(1) A gakuran is a sort of uniform jacket, if you didn't already know. You can just google it if you want to see pictures.<strong>

**(2) A changshan is pretty much a long dress like outfit for men with slits on the sides.**

**And cliffhanger! Sorry about that but if I had gone on as usual, the chapter would be way long. You'll see why in the next chapter. I hope you've prepared for one heck of a banquet!**


	15. Disappearance

Finally Tsuna opened the door, and the three males took in an uneasy breath through their noses, smelling an unnaturally heavenly smell of wonderful food cooking.

"Wow! That smells really good!" Yamamoto was the first to speak as he followed Tsuna and Gokudera into the hall.

"Not for long…" Gokudera mumbled just as Rosetta appeared from inside the kitchen.

She was wearing blue comfortable pants and a grey t-shirt under a light blue apron loaned to her by Nana.

"Hey, you came! Dinner is nearly ready." She informed them with a bright smile. "I hope you don't mind that I've invited a couple others too…"

"You did?" Tsuna asked curiously.

Rosetta nodded before continuing, "Uh-huh, I invited Kyoko and Haru when I ran into them while doing some last minute shopping. After I told them they said they wanted to try some authentic Italian cooking, so they tagged along with me."

"And so the victim list gets longer…" Gokudera mumbled under his breath. Tsuna heard this and gulped.

Rosetta paused for a moment, as if she heard what Gokudera had said, but she disregarded it and continued, "Anyway, I'll let you know when dinner's ready!"

She then retreated back into the kitchen and the boys stood there for a minute before joining the others in waiting for their impending doom. An hour had passed after that and everyone was called to the table for dinner. The three boys stayed behind everyone else, so they could make a break for it first if the food had turned black. But as soon as they walked through the doorway, they saw an amazing spread of Italian foods and desserts on the table.

"What's all this?" Tsuna asked, expecting something like Bianchi's poison cooking but seeing no burnt food at all.

"Why it's all authentic Italian dishes of course!" Rosetta answered sincerely. "What were you expecting?"

Tsuna shut his mouth, but Gokudera spoke up for him by saying hesitantly, "Well, I thought when you said you were cooking, you were going to…" – he mumbled the next bit – "burn everything…"

For a moment Rosetta looked upset, but then she burst out in laughter at what the silver haired teen had confessed. "Yes, I'd understand that coming from you, Gokudera, but I've gotten better since then, as you can see. After all, what kind of wife would I be if I couldn't cook a thing?" – she then turned to everyone – "Let's eat then, everybody."

They all sat down, and immediately Tsuna could feel himself drooling as he gazed at all the food before him. "Everything looks so good Rosetta-san! What are all these dishes?"

"Well, to start, we have Bruschetta, a grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil, salt, pepper, basil leaves, and fresh tomato, and Insalata Caprese, which is sliced fresh tomatoes, topped with mozzarella and basil, seasoned with olive oil. Then we have Ciabatta bread, Rosetta bread, and Focaccia, which is baked with fresh herbs inside." Rosetta explained, pointing to each of the dishes as she did so. "We also have a tomato and mozzarella Pizza Margherita and for pasta, we have Fettuccine Alfredo with parmesan cheese, butter, broccoli, parsley, cream, garlic, and shrimp, and of course, Lasagna. Finally we have Arancini, which are fried Risotto rice balls coated in bread crumbs."

"Wow, it's so much!" Futa exclaimed with delight. "My rankings say that Rosetta-nee's cooking is close second to Mama's cooking!"

"Lambo's going to eat it all!" the tiny cow-print wearing child shouted with delight before laughing.

"No! Lambo share!" I-Pin stated firmly while Lambo continued laughing.

"Now, now." Rosetta spoke up in a motherly tone. "There's more than enough for everyone. Not to mention I've made a few desserts for afterwards!"

As soon as Dino had sat down at the table, he started to eat. After a while he said, "Wow Rosetta! You never cease to amaze me with your cooking!"

"Well, I didn't do it all alone…" his wife said in response while blushing. "Mama helped me too you know…"

"Oh yes." Nana agreed with a smile. "I couldn't just sit around so Rosetta-chan let me help her out a little."

At that point Rosetta had loaded up her plate, taking one of every dish and making a small mountain of food on her plate.

Dino noticed this and asked with concern, "Rosetta, isn't that a little too much? Shouldn't you pace yourself a little?"

"Oh my! That is quite a bit!" Nana chimed in with surprise. "You were snacking a little earlier too… You won't get sick from all that will you?"

"No of course not!" Dino's wife said in reply as she waved it off. "I've actually been really hungry lately so this will be nothing!"

Dino continued to look on with concern at his wife, who surprisingly ate at everything and still had enough room for one of each dessert she had made. The rest of the night went without a hitch, as Rosetta helped put the kids to bed while Nana cleaned up and Tsuna walked his friends to their homes…

The week continued in much the same way, everyday peaceful except for all the normal excitement that went on within the house. They were all going through their own lives as normal that they didn't even notice that Rosetta was really on edge. Every night, she would go for a walk, but no one questioned it. That is, until one night when Reborn was waiting for her on the porch, when he should've been asleep by now.

"Another peaceful night?" he asked as she sat on the edge of the porch beside him.

"Eerily peaceful…" Rosetta answered. "What are you doing up at this hour, Reborn?"

"I offered to stay up for Pipsqueak Dino, to make sure you would come home safely." The small hitman stated in reply. "He's worried about your well-being, you know."

Rosetta sighed and leaned back, relaxing on her arms which supported her weight.

"A young lady of your age shouldn't be walking around in the dead of night," he added. "There could be all sorts of shady characters out there looking to soil good women like you."

"I know who exactly is walking those streets as I do every night." Rosetta finally said gravely. "And _I'm_ looking for _him_."

For a moment a silence rose between them.

"It's Nero isn't it? You didn't just come here with Dino to relax." Reborn stated seriously. "You came here to find Nero because Nanimori happens to be the place where he's hiding out."

Rosetta chuckled before saying, "Nothing ever slips by your gaze, does it Reborn?" She stood up and looked out towards the silent neighborhood.

"Yes, that's why I came. And as long as he's out there, I cannot rest until I find him," she continued with determination, holding onto her half of the Mezzanotte ring. "And when I do, I'll finally ask him all the questions that have been playing in my mind…since that day…"

"And when are you planning to tell Dino what's really going on?" Reborn asked after a moment of silence.

Rosetta turned to face the toddler before she answered with, "I'm not sure…" – she paused – "But I definitely don't want to endanger him, or Tsuna and his friends. So I have to get this over with, and find him soon, or we're all at risk of death."

At that moment, the light turned on and Dino appeared in the sliding window before the small porch. He noticed Rosetta, and opened it, leaning against the frame, ruffling his hair with his right hand.

"Hey," he said with his usual soft smile at her. "Did you have a nice late night stroll?"

"Yes," she answered, avoiding his gaze at first but met his eyes again. "I just needed some fresh air, that's all."

"Maybe…" Dino started, and then paused hesitantly. "Maybe, I can join you next time. I mean, if that's okay with you…"

"Dino, why don't you just tell me that you're worried about me?" Rosetta asked, as she and Reborn smirked while Dino blushed and sputtered a little. "But yes, I would love it if we would take a nightly stroll together next time."

Dino went back to smiling before he asked, "You coming up to bed then?"

"Of course." His wife replied, returning his smile with her own before turning to the small hitman. "Are you coming Reborn?"

"Yeah," the hitman toddler agreed as he followed Rosetta inside. "No one should be out at this time of night…"

That night, Rosetta was restless and worried because she had still found no sign of her brother in Nanimori, and that he might be planning to target those close to her. She fell into a light sleep though, and woke up early the next morning, unable to fall back asleep again.

'_Ugh…I can't get back to sleep…' _she thought as she sat up slowly and looked over to the sleeping form of her husband beside her with a smile on her face. _'Heh. Sleeping soundly again. I get jealous of you sometimes for sleeping without a care in the world…'_

She watched him sleep peacefully a little longer until she heard some rustling in the kitchen and decided to go check it out.

When Rosetta came into the kitchen, she found that it was Nana, getting an early start on preparing breakfast for her ever growing family and a bento lunch for Tsuna.

"Oh my! Rosetta!" she exclaimed with surprise after noticing her in the doorway. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

Rosetta looked away for a moment, thinking of a sound excuse, but decided to be honest, considering that she had been lying for everyone's protection lately. "Well, I just woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep." She explained. "Do you think I could help you out in here?"

"Of course!" Nana replied happily. "Let me just get an apron for you…"

She then left the room and returned a minute later with one of her many aprons. She set Rosetta to chopping vegetables, and soon Nana had struck up a conversation with her.

"I've noticed that you and Dino are great with the kids! You two have been such a great help lately." Nana commented with a grateful smile, which then turned into a questioning gaze. "You know, I've always wanted to ask…Do you two have any kids of your own?"

Immediately Rosetta stopped chopping the leek on her cutting board and looked at Nana with a pained expression on her face before quickly shifting her gaze away.

"O-Oh…Did I say something to offend you Rosetta-chan?" Nana asked with concern. "I'm so sorry!" – she paused with an upset look on her face – "What was I thinking? Asking such an insensitive question…"

Rosetta looked back to Nana, and then gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay Mama, you didn't know." She said. "Honestly, I've heard that question a lot and still can't get over it. So please don't beat yourself up over it."

Nana gazed at the young woman before her and asked curiously, "What happened to make you so sad like this?"

Rosetta was then about to start her story, but Nana quickly suggested that the two of them sit down for a break first. She then commenced to brew some tea, and once the two women had a warm cup in hand, Rosetta finally started.

"It wasn't long after we were newly married. We were so happy, spending a lot of time with each other. But Dino had to get back to his job, so I told him I would be fine and he left. It was while he was out for a few weeks that I found out that I was pregnant…" Rosetta started normally, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips. "Of course, being excited, I called Dino as soon as I could to tell him, but we couldn't talk for long. I just accepted that with a smile and told him that I would tell him the good news when he returned." – she paused for a while, almost finding it difficult to continue – "I went to sleep truly happy and without a care that night, and when I woke up the next morning…I…I found a pool of blood…in the bed…"

Rosetta took in a shaky breath, tears coming up in her eyes already as Nana comforted her as best as she could.

"I…locked myself in the room and stayed there until Dino came home. I told him everything…" Rosetta continued after she had calmed down a little. "It turned out later that I'd had a miscarriage. It was the worst and longest month of mourning and recovery in my life. But Dino…He was with me every step of the way. His words brought me back…" – she smiled again – "I don't know where I would be… without him…"

"Oh my…What an ordeal you two have been through! And when you were newlyweds too!" Nana commented with true concern and a tissue in hand. "If you don't mind me asking…" – she paused, blushing a little with embarrassment – "Have you…Have you two ever tried for a child again?"

"It took Dino a couple months to persuade me actually." Rosetta answered openly with a smirk.

"But we've kept trying and hoping since then…" Dino finished from the doorway.

"Dino!" Rosetta exclaimed with surprise as she stood up, blushing. "How long were you standing there…?"

"From when you started." He replied, his eyes full of concern for his wife. "Don't think I don't notice when your half of the bed goes cold and you've left." – he paused – "You okay? You look like you're about to cry…"

"I'm alright now. Thank you for being there for me again, even if I didn't notice at first." Rosetta stated in reply with a smile. "I'm going to continue helping Nana prepare breakfast, so I won't be coming back up to bed with you…"

"Actually…I came down because I'm wide awake now too." Dino said with a cheesy grin.

"I'll pour you some tea then and you can keep us company while we continue." Nana said with a smile as he took a seat.

Soon enough, Dino had his tea and was chatting with the women as they went back to their cooking.

"Oh, sounds like the birds are awake and singing their morning song." Rosetta commented with a smile as she gazed out of the window. "Look there's one now."

At that moment a small fluffy yellow bird landed on the laundry line outside.

"That's not just any bird." Reborn's serious voice filled the room. "That's Hibari's bird."

"What?!" Dino exclaimed with shock. "There's no way! That little bird is always with him!"

A cold chill ran slowly up Rosetta's spine, and she dropped the knife she was holding. Totally ignoring what everyone was saying to her, she ran out onto the lawn to the bird. It noticed her and alighted on her finger, giving her this message, "This boy is the first. There will be more to come unless you give me what I want."

Tears came up in her eyes as she knew exactly who this message was from.

**It was from her brother Nero.**

_**Her worst fear was realized.**_

"Rosetta!" Dino said loudly after he ran out, pulling her from her thoughts. She faced him and when he saw her tears he asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's Hibari." Rosetta answered, tears flowing now. "He's gone missing!"

* * *

><p><strong>Whew. Lots of feels and a horrifying cliffhanger! Sorry for the wait, but at least you got two chapters at once. More will come soon, now that we're coming closer to a faceoff between brother and sister! Expect another chapter in about a week. Until then, enjoy!<strong>


	16. A Deal for Salvation

"What?!" Dino asked with a little disbelief before grasping onto his wife's shoulders. "Are you sure about this Rosetta? How do you know?"

"I just have a really bad feeling about this…" she replied as Hibari's bird flew back up to the laundry line. She then faced the gate and tried to leave while continuing with, "We have to go out now and find him! I'll start looking-."

"Calm down, Rosetta." Dino stated calmly, keeping a firm yet gentle grip on her. "We need to be rational about this."

She was going to speak up against him, but Reborn interrupted her. "Dino is right Rosetta." He said seriously. "Let's get everyone together and then we'll figure something out."

She looked to the two males in turn and then nodded slowly as she relaxed a little. The three of them then went back inside and commenced to waking those in the house and calling others over.

A few minutes later, everyone was convened in the living room. Nana was in the kitchen continuing to make breakfast for them and they had decided to let the younger kids sleep in. Once everyone was together and fully awake, Rosetta explained everything.

"Eh?! Hibari went missing?!" Tsuna asked with shock and concern once she had finished.

"Yes, according to the bad feeling that Rosetta got." Reborn answered.

"So why are we here?" Gokudera asked, referring to himself, Yamamoto, and Ryohei. "Surely Hibari is strong enough to take care of himself…"

"No, not when he's against the person I'm thinking of…"Rosetta spoke up gravely.

"And who is this person?" Bianchi asked before it went deathly quiet in the room.

For what seemed like hours, Rosetta was quiet, thinking of the right thing to say. Finally she answered, "I've gotten information that there is…there has been a very dangerous man residing here in Nanimori. I have a really bad feeling that this man…may have kidnapped Hibari…"

"Then that means this man is holding Hibari hostage somewhere." Reborn deduced.

"What if we come across this man then?!" Tsuna asked with worry.

"We won't. Rosetta replied seriously. "Hibari's captor wouldn't want to risk being found out, let alone captured himself. No, he's hidden Hibari somewhere. I know it."

"You seem to know what this dangerous man is up to, Rosetta." Gokudera commented suspiciously. "Is there something important that you're keeping from us?"

There was a moment of silence before Tsuna spoke up and said, "I know we're all eager to know that but Hibari might be in danger right now. We need to find him first."

Everyone hesitantly agreed, and then after breakfast they all split up to search the various places around Nanimori, making sure to remember to regroup at Tsuna's house when the sun set. As soon as Rosetta approached her area, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed, then held it up to her ear. It rung a few times before the other line was picked up.

"Lady Rosetta," Antonio's voice answered with concern. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, Nero is on the move and he's kidnapped Hibari Kyoya." She informed him urgently. "I need you to round up as many Mezzanotte members as you can to find him."

"Alright I'm on it." Antonio stated in reply before hanging up.

Rosetta did the same and put her cell phone away before starting her search near and around the park. She searched all day, and checked certain places more than once, just to be sure. Before she knew it the sun was setting and it was time to go back and regroup with the others. Rosetta was then about to leave, but someone spoke up from behind her.

"You must be really worried about this boy," she heard an older man's voice say. "Searching the whole place for him…you and your weak friends…"

Rosetta gulped, balling her hands into fists before quickly turning around. At first she thought he wouldn't be there, but he had stayed right where she thought he would.

Rosetta's older twin brother, Nero Ezzelin Mezzanotte, had changed substantially in the seven years since they had last seen each other. He stood at about five feet eleven inches with dark blue colored eyes; his Mezzanotte star barely noticeable in his left eye. He had dark blue – almost black – hair, with his bangs framing his face and almost covering his eyes, and the rest smoothed back and sticking out that way. Nero was currently wearing a dark grey overcoat with the collar sticking up over a light blue button up shirt with a blood red tie around his neck. He also wore grey formal slacks and black shoes. His special sword, Forte Amore*, – which was a katana with a moon shaped guard, blue bandages around the hilt, and silver bells attached to it by dark blue ribbon – was strapped to his hip.

'_This aura he's emitting.'_ Rosetta thought to herself as she gazed upon her corrupted brother. _'It feels so evil that it's almost suffocating me!'_

Nevertheless, she went on to ask aloud, "Where is Hibari? What have you done with him?"

For a moment her brother looked confused, but then realization flashed across his face and he smirked mischievously.

"Oh, the boy? He's right here with me, actually." Nero replied, still smirking as he stepped aside, revealing a beat up and unconscious Hibari. "We happened to clash the other night…" – he sighed tiredly with disappointment – "He didn't put up much of a fight and it was over too soon. And I heard he was supposed to be the strongest of the Vongola guardians…It's such a shame, really…"

Rosetta was shocked to see the young man hurt and was about to run to Hibari to look at his wounds, but Nero simply held up his hand and she stopped short.

"Ah ah ah," he said as he flicked his finger from side to side. "He stays right here until you give me what I want." – he paused, and a menacing smile played on his lips – "However, if you don't, I'll target and pick of the others close to you…One. By. One…"

Rosetta's eyes widened a fraction, but she stayed her ground as she said in reply, "No, I can't give it to you."

Nero growled inwardly with a scowl before he continued, "Let's change it up a little then," – he drew his sword and held it over Hibari's unconscious body – "Give me the other half of the ring, or I'll kill this boy."

"No! Don't kill him!" Rosetta exclaimed. She made a move to run to them, but backed up and held onto her half when Nero put out his hand for it. They stayed like that for a while, until Nero started to get impatient.

"Make up your mind dear sister," he said. "The ring…or the boy."

Rosetta was in a pickle. She could give let him have the ring, but with his corrupted soul the Mezzanotte family would fall. However, if she didn't let him have it, he would kill Hibari. She thought for a moment more, and then it came to her; a way around this whole mess. She didn't want to do it, for she was not a fighter, but she would have to do it to save Hibari's life.

"I won't give you my half, Nero. I can't." Rosetta stated. Her brother sighed and went to stab Hibari, but she spoke up quickly to stop him. "But I have a proposal for you instead." She continued slowly.

"Hmm…You've gotten my attention now." Nero stated with a smirk before sheathing his sword and turning to face her. "What is this proposal you have for me?"

"You leave Hibari, and in exchange," Rosetta explained as calmly as she could. "We fight a fair match for the ring and the rights to the boss of the Mezzanotte family."

Nero considered this for a moment, making Rosetta anxious for his answer.

"Very well, I accept." He stated in reply with excitement. "But don't expect to come out of this fight alive my dear sister…" – he started to back up into the shadows – "We meet here tomorrow night. If you don't show, someone else dear to you just might go missing…"

By this time he had left, and Rosetta ran to Hibari, pulling her cell phone out in the process.

"Dino, I found Hibari!" she explained urgently after dialing his number and hearing it being picked up.

"Is he okay?!" her husband asked, and she heard movement and footsteps, notifying her that they started to move. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm at the park," Rosetta answered. "Hibari's unconscious, but he's really beat up."

"Okay, we're on our way, Rosetta." Dino stated before hanging up.

She did the same with a sigh, and looking upon the young man that she had essentially traded her life for, she muttered, "What a mess I've gotten myself into…"

It had gotten dark outside and the streetlights were on when Dino arrived with Tsuna and the others.

"I've gotten most of his wounds bandaged, but we should get him to the hospital." Rosetta explained as Dino picked Hibari up, having his weight on him and his arm over his shoulder.

"What about that dangerous man you talked about?" Tsuna asked. "Did you come across him?"

"No, I searched everywhere all day." She lied in reply. "And then I just found him like this."

"Well that's good." Yamamoto commented with a relieved smile. "Everyone is safe now."

"Yeah, for the time being." Reborn added. "We'll need to figure out a way to get rid of him so that way no one can be in danger."

"Yeah," Rosetta agreed. "Tsuna, Dino and I will take Hibari to the hospital. You can walk your friends home."

"Okay," the young Vongola boss to be said in reply with a nod. "We'll see you later then."

"Yup." Dino said, shifting Hibari's weight a little.

And with that, the husband and wife strolled off into the direction of the hospital while everyone else headed home, wondering if someone else was going to be targeted by the mysterious man that was a danger to them all…

* * *

><p><strong>*Forte Amore is Strong Love in Italian. It's actually the name of Tsuki's zanpaku-tô in my Bleach fanfic!<strong>

**Looks like we're coming up to the climax with the battle between brother and sister! I can't wait for it and I bet you can't either so I'm giving you a little treat! A double chapter feature!**


	17. The Deciding Battle

The next day passed slowly into the night as Rosetta stayed with Hibari in his hospital room for most of it. Soon the time came for her to leave, and she did so discreetly, not telling anyone, as she slipped away into the night. Although she was unaware that someone did know about what was happening that night, and they had their own plans for the battle to come…

As Rosetta made her way to the park, she thought about what her brother had said before he left her the other night.

'_Going on what he said, Nero might be planning on killing me tonight…'_ she thought, stopping while gritting her teeth. _'If that's true, then I'd rather it be me than them.'_ She continued on her way with determination and a tear in her eye as she said, "Forgive me, Dino…"

Meanwhile, Nero was amongst the trees in the park, waiting patiently for his sister's arrival.

'_When she comes, I'll take what's rightfully mine. Then I'll finally be the boss of the Mezzanotte family…'_ he thought to himself with a little smirk. _'Of course, I'll have to recruit new members to replace those who were lost to the slaughter…'_

Then, and only then, would he have the power to overtake every mafia family in the world. It was a far shot, but with his power he could rule them all. The mere thought of it mad e him shiver with glee.

At that moment, Nero sensed a presence in the area and turned around to see Rosetta walk into the moonlit clearing, retractable steel pole in hand.

"Ah, my dear little sister Rosetta," he greeted with a smirk. "Hmm… You don't look so well. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?"

"No. Thanks to you targeting innocent people…" she answered, still with the determined look on her face. She looked as if she wanted to continue, and her brother picked up on this, his smirk falling into a frown.

"What is that look for?" he asked. "Is there something more that you want to say?"

"Nero, knowing you, I believe that this fight might end in death for one of us…" Rosetta stated in reply. "I don't want this to be a battle to the death. I don't want either of us to die…"

"No, I don't want anyone in the way of my plans." He said sternly with slight anger. "That includes you, my dear sister…"

Rosetta backed up and shook her head before saying, "Nero, you know I'm not the fighting type…"

"Then let me have the ring!" her brother ordered, sounding irritated as he held out his hand.

"Never!" his sister shouted in defiance.

Nero then shot forward to Rosetta, sword unsheathed and ready to strike, but she blocked him in time with her pole.

"You've gotten faster…" Nero complemented her as they stayed like that.

"Well, unlike you I've been practicing my Illusione ability these past few years." His sister stated in response as she pushed him back with all her strength. He skidded backwards, but held his ground as she continued.

"I have my friends to thank for that." She said. "But you…You like to work alone. That much I know."

"That much is true," Nero said in response, starting to circle around his sister. "I do like to work alone, but I'll have to recruit some strong people to fulfill my plans…"

"What are your plans?" Rosetta asked curiously as she followed her brother through narrowed eyes.

"There is no reason for you to know the nature of my plans," Nero replied, stopping to face her with a serious look on his face. "Because before the night is over, I will make sure that you are erased from this world…"

"I don't think it's my time to leave this world just yet." Rosetta stated in her defense as she stood ready for another attack. "I still have people dear to me that I want to protect."

"You were always too soft…" Nero commented icily. "It will be the downfall of you sister!"

Brother and sister then moved into their fighting stances and rushed forward to clash. The sounds of steel and the finest metal echoed through the area.

Struggling against each other once more, Nero said to his sister, "How can you ever hope to win against me, Rosetta? I'll always be the stronger sibling!"

After he said this, he pushed Rosetta away with his sword, and then kicked her in the chest, making her hit the tree behind her. She slid down the trunk of the tree, and kneeled there for a moment, disoriented and gasping for air. Nero took this moment to strike at her once more, but she rolled out of the way while regaining her composure. Although, because she had rolled away a few seconds too late, she came away with a shallow slash on her shoulder.

"Hmph. You're lucky you came out of that alive." Nero commented, watching her stand up slowly. "But next time you won't be…"

He then shot towards her and clashed with her once more, making her skid backwards and lose her balance. Nero took this opportunity to slash at her once more, and he got her on the other shoulder. Rosetta groaned with pain as she backed up into the tree, holding onto her fresh wound.

"Are you finally out of energy?" Nero asked with a chuckle and a smirk at her panting form. "Hmph. Since you're so weak, I might as well finish you now…"

Rosetta stared on, gritting her teeth as she thought, _'I can't move! I…I guess it really is my time…'_ – she closed her eyes and relaxed, ready to take the blow – _'I'm sorry…Dino…Everyone…'_

She then felt an impact pushing her to the right and not long after, she heard the sound of Nero's sword hitting wood and his angered shout. Wondering what her brother was shouting about, Rosetta opened her eyes slowly.

"Dino?!" she exclaimed, finding that she was in his arms. "Wha-?! What are you doing here?!"

"Apparently to keep you from death!" her husband replied with concern while grasping gently onto her arms. "What were you thinking back there?!"

Rosetta looked away, and the two other figures in the clearing caught her eye. "Uncle Antonio? And Reborn?" she said with slight confusion as she stood up. "You too? Why?"

"It was all Reborn's idea." Dino replied, standing next to her. "He thought you could use our help, and he was right. If I had come any later…" He looked away, gritting his teeth with sadness.

At this moment, Nero freed his sword from the tree and faced the new arrivals with a smirk. "Ah. The infamous Reborn. It's nice to finally meet you…" he said before sending a scowl at Antonio. "And Uncle Antonio…You were always on Rosetta's side. Everyone was… I'll take care of you later…" He then growled before turning his attention to his sister and her husband.

"Dino Cavallone…It's been a while." Nero continued icily with a nostalgic smirk. "I heard you became quite the successful boss…Congratulations."

"Thanks, I guess." Dino stated in reply cautiously.

"Enough small talk, Nero." Rosetta cut in as she stepped forward. "We're still in the middle of a battle."

"I thought you were opposed to battle." Her brother stated with a chuckle.

"I am," Rosetta said defiantly. "But I have to defeat you to put an end to this."

Nero then surprised everyone by laughing loudly and asking, "You…defeat me? With those wounds? You must be out of your mind!"

"I just might be…" his sister stated in response with determination. "But at least I'll stop you."

She then charged at Nero despite Dino's cries to stop her and was simply knocked to the side with a new gash on her arm. With her immobilized and holding her wound, Nero ordered the roots from the nearest tree to hold her down with his word conjuring ability. Dino ran over to her and tried to pry them loose, but to no avail.

It was at this time that Nero noticed the connection between the two and said, "Oh well this is interesting… Although I almost saw it coming…"

"What are you going on about now?" Rosetta asked.

"Why, your marriage of course," Nero answered, noticing their confused expressions. "You didn't know…?" – he paused – "Oh, of course you didn't know…Because I stole the documents. I actually have them right here…"

He then pulled out a few documents, stamped with the Mezzanotte and Cavallone seals, out of his pocket and held them out for everyone to see.

"What are those?" Dino asked, knowing he was involved by his family's seal on the paper.

"Do you know the reason why your wife can't ever tell you anything about her work or her personal life before she married you?" Nero explained. "It's because of these. These documents hold the key to making the alliance between the Mezzanottes and the Cavallones. Without these specific documents established by our fathers, you're nothing but an illegal married mafia couple…"

Rosetta looked at her brother angrily as she gritted her teeth while Dino dared to ask another question.

"Why have you done all this, Nero?" he asked.

"You must really be thick sculled if you haven't figured it out by now…" Rosetta's brother stated with a chuckle. "You see, without this authorization, you can't have a worthy heir for either of the families." – he pocketed the documents – "Which means if I do away with the both of you, I won't have any more competition…and I'll have one less mafia family to worry about."

Dino took this as a threat and started to reach for his whip in his coat, but Nero was one step ahead. With just a few simple commands, Antonio and Reborn were restrained and Dino was flicked away from Rosetta and also restrained.

"Dino!" Rosetta exclaimed.

"I'm okay Rosetta!" he replied from his place.

Nero smirked, turning to the Cavallone boss, a menacing look in his eyes. Then, pointing at Dino he ordered, _**"Now die!"**_

A force of wind extended from the tip of his finger and went straight to the Cavallone boss, who braced himself for impact. For a while he stayed like that, then, opening his eyes and looking around with shock, he asked, "What…? What just happened? I'm…alive?!"

Nero's eyes widened in shock as he let out an angered shout and then glared at Rosetta, who was smiling in victory.

"What…did…you…DO?!" he shouted with anger.

In response, Rosetta gazed at her husband and said, "Dino, show everyone what's in your right hand coat pocket."

He looked at her with confusion before putting his hand in his pocket. Once he felt what was in there, his eyes widened with surprise. Dino took his hand out of his pocket and opened it, revealing Rosetta's half of the Mezzanotte ring.

"It can't be!" Nero exclaimed with disbelief and anger. "How is this happening?!"

"I've travelled all over the world for five years, looking for the other half of the Mezzanotte ring." Rosetta answered. "I never found it, but I learned a great many things instead…" – he gestured to Dino and the ring – "And this was one of them."

"Ah, yes." Antonio spoke up with thought. "The Mezzanotte ring was forged through Word Conjuring and part of the soul of the first Mezzanotte boss."

"That means the ring is, in a way, a Mezzanotte…" Reborn deduced.

"Yes and one thing is for sure," Rosetta added with a look of determination. "Every member of the Mezzanotte family by blood – or soul in this matter – is impervious to Word Conjuring. Therefore, Dino is safe."

Nero scowled for a moment, which then turned into a malicious smile as an idea came into his head before saying, "Not unless I attack him head on!"

He then moved to dash forward and slash at Dino, but Rosetta shouted, "That's enough!" and he stopped.

He turned to face her and saw her standing with her head bowed and eyes shadowed over. "You've hurt way too many innocent people and you're soiling the Mezzanotte name…" Rosetta continued, balling her hands into fists and causing a ripple in the air.

Dino made a move to say something to stop her, but Reborn interrupted him. "Don't Dino. She's way beyond stopping now." The toddler said seriously. "Look closely. She's unleashing an alarming amount of energy."

At that moment, another ripple emitted from her body and the branches restraining everyone broke. "Dino…" she said almost softly afterwards.

"Yes?" he said in reply.

"Keep that ring half safe for me…" she continued. "And don't come after me right away. Wait until my energy subsides."

Dino agreed hesitantly and she shifted her gaze to her brother. Nero looked on in shock at the icy blue glint in her eyes before she shot forward and grabbed him, dragging him away with her. Once they had gotten a substantial amount of space away from the others, Rosetta threw Nero across the way.

"Urgh…" he said as he stood up. "What was that for?! Are you planning on finishing it here?"

"No, not before we set a few things straight…" Rosetta replied seriously. "The Mezzanotte family is not just the inner circle. And its goal is peace, not dominance."

Nero looked on in shock, but then his eyes narrowed with irritation as he objected with, "That won't stop me! I'll just change that mindset when I become the boss!"

"It's not that easy Nero." His sister stated in reply. "You see, the main family is only just a part of something bigger." – she took a step closer to Nero boldly – "Because all over the world, there are branches of the family, stationed in specific places to keep the peace between other families and you can never change that!"

"No!" her brother shouted in disbelief and as Rosetta walked closer to him. "That's impossible!"

He then started to lash out at her angrily and she dodged all his attacks with ease before grabbing onto his wrist and taking away his sword. She then stabbed it into the ground and held onto his collar, staring straight into his eyes with her glinting icy blue ones.

"Before I finish this, I want to know something first…" Rosetta said slowly. "What really happened to our family that day they were found slaughtered in cold blood?"

Suddenly Nero smirked and chuckled before saying, "That's one thing I'll be taking to the grave with me, sister…"

This angered Rosetta greatly, and she started to beat up on her brother ruthlessly, until he was a bruised heap on the ground. Panting, Rosetta stood over him with his katana in her hand, motioning to finish him off, but she stopped short.

Nero noticed this and asked almost mockingly, "Aren't you going to…finish me off?"

"No…" she answered as she threw the sword aside. "That will be my son's decision. It's written in his fate, after all…"

Nero laughed then said, "I'll take him down with me then, but before that I'll exact my revenge on you and the others!" He continued to laugh loudly before fainting from exhaustion and Rosetta finally relaxed.

At that moment Dino, Antonio, and Reborn came running up to her. They looked upon Nero with concerned looks before going to ask her if she had killed him.

"Don't worry. He's not dead. I couldn't kill him, even if I wanted to…" Rosetta said with a bittersweet smile. "But it's finally all…over…" She then lost consciousness as she fell back and Dino caught her before she hit the ground.

"Rosetta?!" he said with shock as he shook her gently in an attempt to wake her.

"She's overexerted herself and fainted." Reborn stated after looking her over. "We should get her to the hospital so they can take care of her wounds."

Just as they were about to leave, a heavy mist crawled in through the trees and chains followed, metal collars clasping around Nero's neck, ankles, and wrists. Then three mysterious figures wearing tattered black cloaks and top hats with bandages wrapped all over their bodies approached out of the mist too. The one in the middle started dragging Nero away by the length of the chains he was holding as they spoke all together in their creepy voices, "We've come to collect Nero Ezzelin Mezzanotte, accused of multiple heinous crimes against the mafia…"

"Wait." Antonio spoke up and they stopped. "He has some things that rightfully belong to Lady Rosetta. May we have them before he's taken away?"

For a moment they were silent in thought and then they answered, "Very well."

Antonio then walked up to Nero and took the ring half and the documents and backed away slowly. The mysterious figures then disappeared into the fog, along with Nero and they could still hear the rattle of chains in the distance even after they left.

"That was the Vindiche…" Dino commented with surprise and caution once the jingling of chains had subsided.

"They must have been here all along, watching Rosetta and Nero's battle." Reborn said carefully. "And then came to collect what they came for…"

Without another word, Antonio picked up Nero's sword which was left behind, Dino picked Rosetta up and the three men left the area with a solemn look about them for the man that had been corrupted and arrested that night….


	18. Truths Revealed

"Hello…?" Rosetta called out into the darkness around her, hearing nothing but her voice echo. "Is anyone there? Dino? Reborn? Uncle Antonio? ...Anyone…?"

She waited for the echo to stop, but there was still no answer. She tried to at least see if there was anyone else there with her, but there was no one. Finally she just picked a direction and started to walk that way. For what seemed like miles and miles, Rosetta walked further into the darkness to search for any other living being in the area. She stopped for a moment, and that's when she saw a small point of light in the distance.

"What is that…?" she asked herself before starting to run towards the mysterious light.

Suddenly then Rosetta felt a tug in her heart and a faint, scared young boy's voice say, "Don't go mommy!" Her eyes widened with shock as she stopped and looked around for the source of the voice.

"Please don't leave me!" the boy pleaded and Rosetta felt her legs being grasped tightly in a hug. She looked down and saw a small child, his face buried in her legs as he continued to hug them.

"Hey…" she stated gently while taking the shoulders of the child in her hands as she kneeled down to come face to face with him. "Don't worry, I won't leave you." – he stopped sniffling – "Can you tell me your name?"

"I don't know yet…" the boy replied as he removed his hands from his face.

The child was more or less two feet tall with short golden blond hair, his bangs covering his eyes as he had his head bowed. He wore a short sleeved green button up shirt over a cream colored long sleeved cotton shirt and brown cargo shorts with just black socks on his feet.

"What do you mean you don't know your name yet?" Rosetta asked further, confused by what the child had said. "Surely you have one."

The child shook his head, tears spilling from his eyes as he said, "You haven't given me one yet, mommy." She was going to ask him why he was calling her mommy, but at that time the boy lifted his face to show his eyes.

Rosetta's eyes widened as she saw that within both of the boy's teary chocolate brown colored eyes, were the very mark that was in her right eye…

"The Mezzanotte Star…in both eyes…" she said slowly with surprise. "…Vero…?"

At this, the boy stopped crying immediately and asked with excitement, "Is that my name mommy?!"

"Yes. Yes it is," Rosetta replied with a loving smile as she took her son in a tight by gentle hug. "Vero Mezzanotte Cavallone."

"That makes me so happy…Mommy…" the boy said before disappearing into thin air.

Instantly Rosetta began to panic, looking around for her son while calling out his name, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly she heard an older male's voice coming from behind.

He said, "If you have calmed my inner child then you must be my mom."

She turned around to see an older Vero, looking to be at about nineteen, and standing almost as tall as Dino. He was currently wearing a grey tank top and dark green pajama pants, as if he had just gotten up from bed.

"Vero…?" Rosetta asked, a little uncertain even though he did look like an older version of the young boy she saw before.

"Yeah, it's me, mom." Her son answered with a warm smile. "I don't know how this is happening but I'm actually communicating with you from the future."

"It might be the connection between the two of us," Rosetta stated, placing her hand gently over her abdomen. "Or it could be you desperately needed my presence and called me here to see you."

"There is so much…that I want to tell you…to warn you of what's going to happen…" Vero suddenly said; a little upset. "But, I don't want to change anything at all…And it hurts…"

He sniffed, and hid his eyes with his hand as he started to tear up. Rosetta smiled gently and walked up to her son, bringing him into a tender loving hug.

"I know how you feel Vero. There are so many things that I want to tell you too, but we can't change the future," she said before pulling away and looking into his eyes. "At least I know now that you'll be born safely and grow up to be the handsome young man that you are. Dino will be so happy when I tell him…"

"No, don't tell dad anything about what's happened here," her son said quickly. "Just tell him what you were planning to tell him from the beginning."

Rosetta nodded, and soon her vision started to get blurry. "Vero, what's happening?" she asked with worry, grasping his arms for support.

"I think it's now time for us to part." Vero said sadly. "I've kept you here for too long."

"I understand." Rosetta agreed. "But remember Vero, that wherever you are, your father and I will be too, no matter what." As she said this she placed her hand over her son's heart, and then everything around her disappeared as she regained consciousness…

Slowly Rosetta opened her eyes, finding herself alone in a spotless hospital room. It was quite spacious, with the typical hospital bed, which she was laying in, and a sink and bathroom. There was a side table at each side of the bed, but only one had a vase standing on it. She also discovered a long reading light attached to the wall over her head. After looking around, Rosetta tried to move around and sit up, but all she did was struggle as a slight pain ran through her shoulders. She stopped immediately, and remembered that she had been wounded there during her battle with Nero. Upon further investigation, she found that her shoulders were bandaged and that her arm was hooked up an I.V.

'_Well, I guess I've been here for more than one night…' _Rosetta thought to herself with a sigh, relaxing. _'I hope everyone's not too worried about me…'_

Just then, the door opened and Antonio walked in, followed by Tsuna – with Reborn perched on his shoulder – and Dino, who had a bouquet of a dozen red roses in his possession. As soon as they all set their eyes on her, they rushed up to her bedside, asking eagerly if she was okay.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Rosetta replied with a giggle before the males calmed down.

"Oh, um…." Dino said, realizing that he still had the roses and he presented them to her. "These are for you. I thought they could brighten up the room a little…"

"Thank you Dino!" Rosetta exclaimed, smiling as she accepted the roses and took in their beauty and lovely aroma. "Uncle Antonio, could you get some water for these please?"

"Right away milady." He stated in reply before doing so. Once he returned and the flowers were placed in the vase, Rosetta sat up in the bed with some help, and that's when she became serious.

"What…What happened to Nero?" she asked steadily.

For a moment, the males were silent. No one wanted to break the bad news to Rosetta. So they looked at anything but her with solemn expressions on their faces until Reborn spoke up.

"He was taken away by the Vindiche after you fainted." He answered seriously.

"But we managed to acquire the contract he stole and the other half of the Mezzanotte ring before that." Antonio chimed in while pulling them out and giving them to her. "His katana was also left behind…Of course, we don't have it now because we can't have weapons in the hospital."

For a minute, Rosetta looked like she was going to cry from hearing the news and receiving the items that were handed to her. She then took a deep breath and composed herself, flashing a bittersweet smile to all of them.

"I saw his arrest coming, to be honest…He is wanted by over fifty mafia families after all…" she said, sadness apparent in her voice. "Uncle Antonio, I would like to have the sword later." – he nodded in response – "As for the ring, I'll assemble it at my Inheritance Ceremony, as it is customary." – she placed both halves in the ring box provided by Antonio – "And the contract…Well, there are some things that I've withheld from you that I shouldn't have, Dino. I think it's time to tell you everything."

"It's okay Rosetta. I understand." He said as he comforted her. "There was nothing we could do. You were bound by the contract." Rosetta agreed, nodding.

"So now all there is left is to sign it." Antonio stated, withdrawing a pen from his coat pocket. "The bosses first, then everyone else in the room will sign as witnesses."

"W-Wait." Tsuna spoke up hesitantly, holding up his arms to halt the process. "Even me?"

"Yes Sawada-san. Even you." Antonio answered after turning his gaze to him. "As the next generation Vongola boss, you are entitled to this information too."

"After all, the alliance between the Vongola and the Mezzanotte families has been established since the first bosses became friends." Reborn added with a smirk.

"Eh? Really?" Tsuna asked.

Rosetta nodded with a smile before she said, "Who do you think was on standby to make sure the Ring Battles went smoothly?"

She then accepted the pen, and signed her name where it was supposed to go. Dino came after, then Reborn and Tsuna, and finally Antonio. Antonio then proceeded to pocket the paperwork and the pen back in his coat, and that's when Rosetta started to tell them everything, bringing them into the light about the whole affair between the siblings.

"It all started with the first Mezzanotte boss. Like any other born into the family by blood, he had special abilities." Rosetta started calmly. "Though he was the only one who could see into the future."

"Really?" Dino asked curiously. "He could see everything that was going to happen?"

"No. His mind was focused on keeping peace, so all he saw were events that would disrupt it and cause chaos if it wasn't prevented." She replied. "All these events he stored in his own private library whose location was lost with the unexpected death of Mezzanotte Terzo (1). We knew of only one of these events, which was determined not long after Mezzanotte Primo (2) made the ring. He saw that ten generations from then, twins would be born and so would a conflict between them for the position of boss…"

"That would be you and Nero." Reborn clarified.

"Yes." Rosetta answered with a nod before continuing. "Once the Mezzanotte Primo had the premonition, he came up with a plan and spoke to the piece of his soul within the ring. 'When the time comes, and a boss must be decided, they must battle for it. It is the only way. So we must divide the ring when the time is right…' That's what he determined, and it's exactly what happened.

"Dino, when I suddenly left from school and you got the cryptic letter from me, I had to go back to my home…because it was found in ruins, with my whole family dead." A sharp intake of breath was heard from her husband and Tsuna before she went on with the truth.

"No bodies were found, but the blood samples found at the site matched all of the inner family's." Rosetta said solemnly. "That is, except my brother Nero's blood, and he was missing. Just like that, he had become a suspect, and he had his half of the ring. That's when I started my journey and my search for my brother…"

She then went on to tell of what happened during her journey around the world. She told them how she had discovered the multiple bases around the world, the secrets of the ring, and her close encounters with Nero. Once she was done, everyone was silent, still trying to wrap their minds around all that Rosetta had told them.

Finally Dino mused aloud, "Wow, I'm just…speechless." – he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed – "Now I know why you had that upset look on your face whenever you couldn't tell me anything…"

Suddenly Rosetta burst into tears and she said, "I'm so sorry Dino! I really wanted to tell you everything!" – she looked to both Tsuna and her husband – "I wanted to tell everyone the whole truth, but I didn't want to put anyone in danger, especially since Hibari got wounded."

She then broke into sobs and Dino rushed to her side and pulled her into a comforting embrace. "It's okay now Rosetta. You don't need to carry this burden by yourself anymore." He said while stroking her hair before pulling away to look into her teary eyes. "Hey, at least on the bright side, no one was mortally wounded, and everyone's safe."

Rosetta smiled and wiped her tears away, glad that no one had died by Nero's hand. They stayed with her a few more minutes, until she had fully calmed down, and then Dino and Antonio turned to leave.

"Aren't you coming Reborn?" the Cavallone boss asked when he noticed that his former tutor and Tsuna weren't following them.

"You go on ahead." Reborn replied. "Tsuna and I would like to speak with Rosetta in private for a minute."

"Oh, okay." Dino said before waving to his wife. "I'll come back and visit later Rosetta."

And with that, the older men left the room, while Tsuna had an uncertain look on his face about the talk they were about to have. Once the room had gone silent, Reborn opened his mouth to speak, but Rosetta held her hand up.

"It's okay Reborn." She said. "I already know Tsuna-kun was there during the battle."

Reborn smirked, and complemented Rosetta by saying, "You're even more adept than I thought."

"You knew I was there?" Tsuna asked just after.

"Of course." Rosetta answered. "I could sense your Dying Will flame from a mile away."

"That's what we're here to talk about." Reborn said seriously, turning to face his student. "Tsuna, tell her what you saw that night."

For a minute, Tsuna was silent, uncertain about what he was going to share with her. Finally he said, "I saw Dying Will flames coming from your stomach…" – he paused – "I thought Dying Will flames formed on someone's forehead or weapon, not the stomach."

"It does," Rosetta stated with a sigh before continuing half to herself. "This was bound to be found out anyway…"

Reborn picked up on this and asked her, "Rosetta, are you pregnant?"

In response, Tsuna exclaimed in surprise while blushing as Rosetta smiled softly, blushing as well.

"Well to be honest, I wasn't quite sure at first." She said in reply. "I did have my suspicions though…"

"You have a baby and yet you still fought Nero?!" Tsuna asked with concern. "What were you thinking?!"

"Yes, Tsuna-kun. I had to. It was my duty as a Mezzanotte." Rosetta commented stiffly. "Would you rather have me leave it so Nero could pick everyone off until we're all dead?"

Reborn gritted his teeth while Tsuna went silent before Rosetta immediately apologized for what she had said.

"No, I'm sorry Rosetta." The young Vongola boss in training said while looking a little upset. "I was a little out of line anyway…"

After a few moments, Reborn suggested that the two of them leave and Tsuna agreed. Before they could make it to the door, Rosetta made a request.

"Could you not tell Dino?" she asked from her place at the bed. "I kind of want to tell him myself."

"Of course Rosetta." Reborn replied before they headed out, leaving her to receive a visit from a nurse on patrol in the halls.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Terzo – Third in Italian<strong>

**(2) Primo – First in Italian**

**And there we go. Yet another chapter with the truth, lots of feels, and a baby! How will Dino take the news? Well, you'll have to wait until the next chapter!**


	19. A Picnic and Good News

Rosetta was in the hospital for just a few more days before she was released. During these three days, she got regular visits from the nurses and her doctor, as well as from Tsuna and his friends. Dino and Antonio would also come for extended amounts of time to spend the day with her and brought in books and things to keep her occupied.

All in all, it was an uplifting three days, even though she was stuck in bed most of the time. But she could go out in the halls for a walk occasionally, and she was happy that the doctor had also confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Now how she was going to tell Dino, she wasn't sure.

Despite all that, the days passed by so quickly that it was time for her release from the hospital…

"You ready to go?" Dino asked as she slid off the bed to join him at the door.

Her uncle would have been there too, but he said he had some errands to run. Funny enough, Tsuna and his friends said they were busy too. Were they all up to something…?

Rosetta chuckled a little before replying to her husband's question with, "Is that a rhetorical question, because I was ready to leave the hospital three days ago."

Dino smirked in response, and led her out of the hospital to his car that was waiting out front. They got in and as soon as they started to go down the road, Rosetta realized that they were going in the wrong direction. In fact, it was the opposite direction of Tsuna's house.

"Dino, this isn't the way to Tsuna-kun's house, and we're not due to leave Japan for another couple of days…" she said with a confused look on her face as she watched the neighborhood go by. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Her husband replied with a smirk not too long before they pulled up near the park.

Rosetta climbed out, and gazed around until she noticed Tsuna and his friends, plus Nana and Antonio, sitting on a couple of large picnic blankets in a nice patch of grass and unpacking copious amounts of food from the picnic baskets with them.

She turned to look at her husband with a questioning expression and asked, "A picnic?"

"Yeah, we thought a party inside would drive you crazy, considering you could barely stay in bed at the hospital." Dino replied, smiling. "Everyone pitched in too."

"Even Hibari?" Rosetta asked with surprise.

"Well, we asked him but he said no." he said with a nervous laugh. "He's angry that he owes you for saving him too."

At that moment, Nana noticed the both of them and waved them over excitedly.

The couple did so, and before Rosetta sat down, Haru said, "Wow! You look even more beautiful than I imagined wearing that dress we made you Rosetta!"

They young lady blushed, still standing and showing off the beautiful light blue dress with a subtle rose print on it. The dress went to her knees, had no sleeves, and was cinched at the waist. She was also wearing a white sunhat and simple white sandals with a one inch heel.

"Yes, the look really suits you!" Kyoko added with a smile.

"Thanks so much, this is the best gift ever!" Rosetta stated in reply, returning the smile. "I really love it!"

"Well, now that the guest of honor is here," Nana suggested with her hands clapped together. "Let's all start eating this wonderful food!"

There was a huge spread before them with many finger foods and desserts. Everything you could think of, it was there. There were small sandwiches, little drumsticks, and many side dishes along with little desserts. Everyone immediately obliged, and started to dig into the various picnic foods. Not even a minute had passed and Lambo was already running around with half of the drumsticks in his hands, I-Pin chasing after him, telling him to stop, and causing Gokudera to get a little pissed off.

"There's more than enough food for everyone now," Nana advised in a motherly tone before Yamamoto started to withdraw some circle shaped bento boxes.

"Yup!" he added as he opened some of them, revealing colorful sushi spreads. "I even brought some sushi from my dad's restaurant."

"Oh, this sushi is great Rosetta!" Dino exclaimed as he got some for himself and then offered her one. "You should try some!"

Rosetta gazed at the raw fish for a moment, remembering what the doctor had said about having fish in her condition. She then looked into her husband's slightly confused gaze and said steadily, "Um, the doctor said that raw fish isn't good for pregnant women…"

For what seemed like hours, everyone but Reborn was in a state of shock, but it was only for a few seconds before there was an outburst of excitement and joy. Various congratulations were said, but Dino was still processing everything.

Finally he abandoned the sushi and grasped her shoulders, saying with concern, "You…"

"Yes, I know I shouldn't have gone walking out in the dark alone in the mountains," Rosetta stated in response, remembering to tell the cover up story for those who weren't in the know of the mafia. "And I paid for it dearly by falling down and hurting myself, but I felt that I had to. I'm sorry…"

She was about to continue but was caught up in a deep kiss followed by a tight hug from Dino. He pulled away, and with a relieved and loving smile he said to her, "As long as you, and the baby, are okay, that's all that matters to me right now."

Rosetta smiled in response with a happy tear in her eye, and then the picnicking continued, also becoming a congratulatory party for the newfound pregnancy. After that, Rosetta and Dino stayed in Japan for a few more days, but before that, they spoke with Tsuna.

"Hey Reborn, I came right home," the Vongola boss in training said as he came into the kitchen after he came from school. He paused and saw Rosetta and Dino sitting at the table too, and asked what they were doing there.

"Well, Tsuna, there's something important we would like to ask of you." Dino started.

"Really?" he asked nervously as he sat down.

"Yes. We would love it if you would agree to be our baby's godfather." Rosetta continued happily.

"What?" Tsuna asked, confused. "Godfather?"

"Yes." Reborn explained with his usual smirk. "It's sort of like an unrelated uncle who takes care of the child, should anything happen to the parents."

"Eh?! Really?!" his student said with surprise before turning to the married couple. "You want me to do that?"

"Yes! Of course you!" Rosetta answered. "You already are family to the both of us, so will you be the same for our son?"

"Uh, well…" Tsuna said hesitantly. "I guess…"

Instantly he was kicked down by Reborn before the toddler advised that his student by more gracious for what he had just been asked for, while Dino and Rosetta gave a little chuckle as they remembered the days they were going to school.

Not too long afterward, Rosetta and Dino left back to Italy, thankful for the peace they had gotten and happy for the pregnancy. They did promise to come back for a visit with their baby sometime in the future though….

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, sorry for the delay. I was actually not sure that I could do this chapter and the next one as separate or together, but they're going to be separate. The good news is that you're going to get two chapters again! They're both relatively short, so that's good.<strong>

**Anyway, the present is over so it's off to the future, but before that, a little Omake chapter is on the way!**


	20. Babysitting

A couple of years passed, and Nanimori was as peaceful as ever. Tsuna had a day off from school and tutoring, and was currently hanging out with Gokudera and Yamamoto. His mom had gone shopping with the girls and the kids, so he and his friends had the house to themselves. That is, until they got an unexpected visitor…

Tsuna had just gotten refreshments and sat down when the doorbell rang. He walked to the door, opened it, and was immediately greeted with a baby with wide brown colored eyes and a tuft of golden blond hair atop his head.

He jumped back with a little scream just as he heard Rosetta say, "And this is your Uncle Tsuna-kun!" Tsuna looked up, and there she was with a smile on her face as she greeted the young boss.

"R-Rosetta-san?!" he exclaimed with surprise. "What are you doing here?!"

"What? Nana didn't tell you that we were coming for a visit? I guess she must have forgotten…" Rosetta said in wonder before noticing that Gokudera and Yamamoto had come to see what was going on. "Oh, hey Gokudera and Yamamoto. How are you?"

Yamamoto replied happily with, "Great!" with a smile while Gokudera noticed the baby and pointing to him, he asked, "What is that?"

"For your information, this is a baby, Gokudera." Rosetta said huffily. "He's my son in fact. We came here with Dino for a visit so he could meet everyone."

"Where is Dino-san?" Tsuna asked curiously, as he had expected the Cavallone boss to be with his wife.

"Oh, he offered to attend to some business at the base for me." Rosetta answered. "He would have been coming over with Vero, but he insisted…"

At that moment, Vero started reaching out his tiny hands to Tsuna eagerly. Rosetta noticed this immediately, and smiling she said, "Look Tsuna, Vero already likes you!" – the little boy continued with grasping motions – "I think he wants you to hold him."

"Really?" the young teen said nervously. "How do you know?"

"Oh, Vero's a clever little boy! He can already sense Dying Will flames," the proud mother replied happily. "Although he's scared his mommy on occasion when he goes looking for daddy. He likes sky flames the best, probably because his mommy and daddy have them."

"So his name is Vero?" Yamamoto asked, walking up to the baby and smiling at him.

"Yup, Vero Mezzanotte Cavallone." Rosetta stated in reply. "The next in line to become the Mezzanotte _and_ Cavallone boss!"

Tsuna was about to say something, but at that moment she got a phone call.

She pulled out her cell phone and put it to her ear, saying, "Hello, this is Rosetta speaking…" – she paused, listening intently to the person on the other side of the line before her eyes widened in shock – "What?! Dino caused a blackout at the base that also made him go unconscious?! I knew I shouldn't have let him go alone! I'll be there as soon as possible."

She then hung up, and dropped her suitcase and diaper bag in the hall before handing Vero to Yamamoto.

"I need to go sort things out at the base," she said while doing these things. "Could you watch Vero for a few minutes? Thanks!"

She headed out the door, but then returned to give them some last minute advice, "Don't worry, he's usually quiet and lets you know what he wants. Everything you need is in the diaper bag." – she then turned to her son with a smile – "Bye bye Vero! Be a good boy for mommy, okay?"

He clapped with glee and waved goodbye in reply and with that, she left the three clueless teens to babysit her baby. For a moment, the three of them stood there, letting it all sink in.

Finally Tsuna exclaimed, "Eh?! Alone with a baby?! What are we going to do?!"

"Well, we can take him into the living room and play with him." Yamamoto suggested as he started to move there with Vero in his arms. "How about some catch little guy?"

"Uh, maybe not…" Tsuna mumbled as he watched them with fear in his eyes for Vero before turning his gaze to the diaper bag. "There might be some other toys for him to play with though."

He grabbed the bag and the suitcase and brought them in the living room with him, then proceeded to pull out various toys from the diaper bag. As Tsuna pulled out the toys one by one, Vero immediately reached for his ball – which was soft and green, and a little bigger than a baseball – and then held it up to Yamamoto for him to take.

"Ah, so you do want to play catch Vero-kun?" he asked, and Vero nodded.

Before Yamamoto could take the ball from the baby's hand, Tsuna spoke up and said, "Uh, how about we play with the bubbles instead?"

Vero looked at Tsuna, who held them up for him to see, and then shook his head. Tsuna was going to say something to stop them, but Yamamoto already had the ball and got into place. He got into his baseball zone and suddenly became serious. He drew back his arm, and threw his fast ball right at Vero, but missed a little, causing the ball to ricochet around the room and knocked out the three teens. It then flew at Vero, who caught it and went tumbling backwards, disappearing into the hall.

A couple of hours later, Tsuna slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw his two friends seemingly sleeping and wondered how they got that way. Suddenly it came to him.

'_Wait, Yamamoto threw the ball, and then what happened?'_ Tsuna thought as he rubbed his head and felt a bump there. _'How did I get this bump?'_ – he paused as realization flashed across his face – _'Now I remember! The ball bounced off of the walls and knocked us out, but what happened to Vero…?'_

He looked around, and didn't see the baby anywhere in the room with them. He was gone.

Tsuna immediately went to wake up Gokudera and Yamamoto, in a panic that Vero was missing.

"Huh?" Yamamoto said tiredly. "What's up Tsuna?"

"It's Vero!" Tsuna replied as he started upturning cushions and looking in the nooks and crannies of the living room. "He's gone missing! Help me find him before Rosetta-san comes back."

The other teens, now wide awake, commenced to looking in other areas in the house. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, they met in the hallway in front of the door.

"No luck upstairs, Juudaime." Gokudera reported after Tsuna asked how their searches went.

"I couldn't find him anywhere either." Yamamoto asked with concern.

Tsuna became worried as he said, "Well he didn't leave the house. I just hope that wherever he is, he isn't hurt…"

He then shot a worried look at the door, and at just that moment, there was a knock. He went to go open it, and found a bandaged Dino leaning on Rosetta for support.

"Yo, Tsuna!" the Cavallone boss greeted cheerfully despite his condition. "How are things?"

The young boss in training opened his mouth to speak, but stopped short with a worried look on his face.

"Tsuna-kun, is there something wrong?" Rosetta asked slowly, becoming worried as she saw the teen's upset face.

For a moment more, he was silent, until he quickly blurted out, "I'm sorry! Vero went missing and he's nowhere in the house!"

"What?" Dino asked with concern after both parents rushed into the house with frowns on their faces.

"You checked everywhere?" Rosetta questioned further, letting Dino sit down and looked around the living room herself.

"Yes. We searched all over the house. He didn't leave either." Tsuna answered before he saw Rosetta pause in front of her suitcase. "What is it Rosetta-san?"

"Oh how embarrassing! I forgot to tell you!" she replied, blushing with chagrin as she motioned to the suitcase, which was open. "Vero has this thing he likes to do when neither Dino nor I are around and he misses us." – they came closer to the suitcase – "He usually burrows into our clothes and takes a nap. It's worrying sometimes, but it really is adorable!"

"Yup, that's our little Vero." Dino stated with a smile.

'_What a weird kid…'_ Tsuna thought as Gokudera clicked his tongue and Yamamoto laughed._ 'Then again, he isn't as weird as any of the other kids.' – _he paused – _'I wonder what he will be like when he's all grown up…'_

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the present really done! Hope you enjoyed the Omake. Now it's time to brace yourself! We're travelling seventeen years into the future!<strong>


	21. Seventeen Years Later

"Boss?" Romario said, puzzled as he passed the Cavallone boss in the hallway. Seeing that he was walking to the front door, the right hand man started to follow and asked, "Where are you headed off to?"

"You've known me since I was born, Romario." The boss said in reply as he smiled at his ever loyal right hand man he had known all that time.

The years had gotten to him though, as his previous black hair had become a little grey in some areas, and he had gained some new wrinkles. But he was still Romario, and would never retire; just to make sure things were going smoothly at the Cavallone base.

"You should know by now where I go when I leave alone." The boss continued with a smirk as he opened the front door a little.

The current Cavallone boss stood at five feet, eleven and a half inches tall, with golden blond hair with a long brown strand coming from the side, his bangs swaying in the breeze that came in through the cracked open door. He had chocolate brown colored eyes just like his father's, and his clothing was inspired by him too.

He was wearing a long sleeved red shirt, the front tucked into his pants, under a dark green hoodie vest with black faux fur trim around the hood. He also wore simple blue jeans with a belt around his waist, which had a rearing horse on the gold plated buckle. On his feet were normal blue converse shoes. This was indeed the Cavallone boss, but it wasn't Dino, for within both of this young man's eyes, was a Mezzanotte Star. This was Vero Mezzanotte Cavallone, Dino and Rosetta's only son.

"So you're going to go see them?" his right hand man asked further, knowing full well where Vero was meaning to go. "May I accompany you then?"

"You know you don't have to ask Romario," Vero replied lightly. "After all, they were your family too."

They then slipped through the door quietly and left to their destination, which happened to be out in the far corner of the garden. There in the corner stood a marble grave, with a smaller older grave standing beside it, and all around them were white rose bushes.

The two men stood there silently and solemnly, before Vero took in a breath and said aloud, "Last night, I spoke with my mom in my dream."

"Is that even possible?" Romario asked with shock apparent in his voice. "…Do you think it was…her spirit?"

With this question, the pain in Vero's heart came flooding back as he remembered that fearful night four years ago. He was safely hidden in a small alcove in his parents' closet, but he heard everything. That night, his mom and dad were murdered. But by who? They didn't know. They couldn't find their bodies, but the huge pool of blood in the middle of the room was more than enough proof.

That's where the two males were currently; at his parents' grave. There were no bodies to bury, but they still erected a grave stone for the both of them. The other one was for his stillborn sister.

"It wasn't her spirit," Vero finally stated softly, as if to reassure himself. "She was actually there." – he turned to Romario – "I made a connection with a past version of her from nineteen years ago, before I was born. She told me what I needed to hear; that she and dad would always be with me."

He kneeled down, and touched the names that were etched into the marble with a bittersweet smile. Then his gaze moved down to the ground, were a small bouquet of China Roses were left for them.

As Vero felt their soft petals, Romario said, "Those must be from Antonio. I saw him come here before he left yesterday."

"Yes, I asked him to go to China to check some things out because we've gotten some alerts from a base there." The young Cavallone boss replied. "I was meaning to go, but I have somewhere else I'm planning on going."

"Already? You just graduated from school last year and became boss." Romario asked with slight surprise. "Where are you planning to go?"

"I'll be travelling to the Vongola base in Japan to further my training to become stronger." Vero answered after he stood up. He saw that Romario was going to offer to come along and continued, "I'll be going alone." – his right hand man backed down and he started to head back in to pack – "But first, I need to go pay a visit to the Varia base…"

Meanwhile, at the Vongola base underneath Nanimori, the right hand man entered his boss' room and informed him, "Juudaime, I've just received a message from Vero saying he's on his way…" He then trailed off uncertainly, as if he had something more to say.

His boss caught onto this, and smirking he stated, "But…?"

"He's…taking a side trip, Juudaime," the right hand man replied obediently. "To the Varia base."

"Of course. It is as expected," the boss stated, still smirking. "Let him take his time. We will welcome him when he arrives."

"Very well, Juudaime." The right hand man agreed, bowing before making his leave through the automated sliding doors….

"VOI!" Squalo shouted as he barged into the room Vero was waiting in.

He was still the same height, but his hair had grown out to his waist and he no longer had bangs. He was wearing the standard issue Varia uniform, which was a black coat belted at the waist with light yellow accents on the sides and the arms, the Varia patch on his right shoulder, and white faux fur around the collar. He also wore black trousers with yellow accents on the outside legs and black knee high boots. Attached to his left wrist was a long sword instead of a hand, and he wore his Varia rain ring on his other hand.

He continued to shout in his outdoor voice saying, "What are you doing here, you rotten brat?"

"That's cold, Uncle Squalo." Vero said in reply with a hurt expression as he stood up. "I come to pay you a visit and you just treat me like I'm an annoyance."

"That's because you are!" Squalo stated with anger before going a little wild as he continued. "And didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

"I guess that makes us even." Vero said casually with a grin.

This in turn caused Squalo to lose it even more, and he would've chased Vero out of the base, if it weren't for another three members of the Varia, who were popping their heads through the open door.

"Shi shi shi. Looks like Squalo's having a good time." One of them stated with a slightly creepy grin. He had feathery blond hair that stuck out a little on the ends and also wore a small silver tiara that tipped over the bangs that covered his face.

The next one to speak had his head covered with a huge round black frog like "hat", except for some of his bright teal bangs. He said in a slightly indifferent and bored tone, "Senpai, I don't think you want to get involved."

The third stepped into the room. His head was shaved, except for his Mohawk, which was dyed orange, and the neon green colored bangs that framed the right side of his face. His eyes were covered by a pair of glitzy red sunglasses. "Squalo," he scolded in a motherly tone. "Is that any way to treat your nephew?"

"VOI! We aren't even related Lussuria!" the long silver haired man shouted as he faced the one who scolded him. "You shouldn't even be here! It's my business, not yours, so leave!" – he noticed the other two peeking in – "Bel! Flan! You scum, in on this too!"

Squalo became even more infuriated, and started to chase them down the hall with his wild swinging sword. Once they were gone, Lussuria came closer to Vero.

"You know he may act this way, but he doesn't really mean it," he said before leaning in, as if to tell a secret. "To tell the truth, he's been behaving a little differently since your parents' deaths. I think he misses them as well."

"VOI! I do not, Lussuria you trash!" Squalo yelled at them from behind. "They were weaklings who were mushy to each other so don't go saying that I miss them."

He then slashed his sword to cut Lussuria, but missed because he dodged out of the way and left the room before Squalo could make chase. A moment later Squalo turned to Vero with an angry yet serious look on his face and said, "What are you still doing here? State your business and scram!"

"You fought my Uncle Nero a couple of years ago, right?" Vero asked, and Squalo narrowed his eyes in response. "I want you to teach me everything about swordsmanship."

"No way." Squalo said quickly, turning his back on the young boss.

"Alright then." Vero stated in response with a shrug.

The silver haired man turned to him with a shocked expression on his face and asked, "What?! You ask me for help and then turn around and let it go when I say no?"

"Yeah, I sort of saw it coming." Vero replied. "Might as well have tried though, right?"

"Heh. That's so like your father…" Squalo mumbled before raising his voice. "I'm not going to help you, but I'll at least tell you what happened, and I know someone who will help you with your sword skills."

"Yamamoto-san, right?" the young Cavallone boss said, catching the man by surprise. "I'm heading over to the Vongola base next, so I'll be seeing him there."

After Squalo had told Vero of his encounter with Nero and what to be wary of, Vero said his goodbyes and started to leave, but not before Squalo said one last thing as he was leaving.

"VOI! Don't get yourself killed over there, brat!" he shouted after the son of his old friends.

Vero turned, flashed a smile, and then casually waved before strolling out the door…

* * *

><p><strong>Me – "Aww, Squalo! You really do care!"<strong>

**Squalo – "VOI! I DO NOT!" *goes chasing after me with his waving sword***

**And there we go! First future chapter. In the next one, we'll meet most of the Vongola guardians all grown up (you'll see why most of them). As a forewarning, please don't bash me for any "incorrect" way that I might describe Tsuna to you. After all, his TYL version wasn't really shown and I'm going to describe him the way I want!**

**Anyway, chapters might be submitted a little slower, considering that I'm starting up on another fanfiction, but I'll do my best to put them up every week or so. Don't get mad if I don't!**


	22. The Vongola Base

"Well this is the place." Vero commented aloud as he looked around.

He was currently in a clearing, in the forest, in the middle of nowhere in Japan. It would have been better if someone was there to greet him at the airport, but they had sent him a map to a secluded place that seemed like nowhere special.

He turned off his phone after double checking he was in the right place and continued, "But no one's here…yet."

Vero waited patiently for a moment more, and then it started to rain – the kind of rain that starts light first, but then falls heavily a second later, so that you can't see a foot in front of you if you tried.

"Wow, you grew up fast kid." He heard a male say with a chuckle from behind. Vero turned, and saw a dark figure up ahead. He couldn't see who it was, but he knew by the man's voice that it was Yamamoto, the Vongola Rain Guardian.

Vero opened his mouth to say something, but Yamamoto interrupted him by saying, "Follow me. And keep your eyes on me." – he turned – "It's pretty easy to get lost in this rainfall."

In response, Vero closed his mouth and followed the man through the downpour, until they came up to an opening between some rocks. They both went inside, and Vero was expecting to see rough rocky walls, but was greeted instead with a smooth cement hallway.

"Sorry about that," Yamamoto stated with a smirk. "It was a precaution, just in case someone was following you."

He withdrew a small sky blue box from inside his suit jacket and held it out. It opened, and a small flame the same color of the box flew into it before it closed. The rain ended soon afterwards.

"You could have warned me before I got soaked to the bone." Vero commented, as he wringed out some of the water in his clothes.

Yamamoto just chuckled before handing him a towel, and Vero finally got to get a good look at him. He had matured quite a bit since he last saw him, with shorter black hair and serious brown colored eyes. He was wearing a simple black suit and tie, with a blue button up shirt. He also had a small scar on his chin, wore his Vongola Gear Rain bangle on his wrist, and had his sword, Shigure Kintoki, slung over his shoulder in a special sword case.

Once Vero received his towel and started to dry himself up a little, Yamamoto took one out for himself and soon the two of them were walking through the underground base.

"Whoa, this place is impressive." The young Cavallone boss stated with wonder as he looked around an expansive, almost finished room. "When did you start working on it?"

"About five or six years ago." Yamamoto replied. "We're about eighty percent done at this point."

"Wish I had a base like this…" Vero mumbled half to himself as Yamamoto chuckled at his comment.

"You may not have a base like this," the Vongola Rain Guardian stated as they came up to the gate protected by purple horizontal beams. "But you do have bases all over the world."

"That's true." Vero stated in reply. "I guess I should be thankful with what I've got."

Yamamoto smirked in response as he placed his hand on the DNA scanner next to the gate. The scanner beeped in response, and the beams became harmless before Vero continued to follow Yamamoto down the halls and into the study.

It was an expansive room, but it wasn't too big, with bookshelves lining the walls. There was a desk in the background, but everyone was seated on the two couches gathered next to the coffee table. On the other side of the table was a single seat. He sat down in it, as Yamamoto took his place, and gazed at all the Vongola Guardians who were waiting patiently. But something was amiss…

"Where are the Thunder and Mist Guardians?" Vero asked curiously after noticing that they weren't there. "And where is Uncle Tsuna?"

"The boss sent Lambo and Chrome with I-Pin to China to find out what's happening over there." Gokudera answered seriously.

He had his hair cut shorter too, and it stuck out in thin feathery strands. He was wearing a black suit and tie too – they all were – with a red button up shirt. He had various earrings on and wore his Vongola Gear Storm buckle on his belt.

As soon as he had finished, the automatic doors opened and the Tenth Vongola Boss walked in and took his seat in the middle of it all.

Tsuna had grown over a foot tall since his teenage years, and matured greatly too, as he became boss of the Vongola family. He kept the same hairstyle all these years, and wore the black suit with the black tie over a white button up shirt with the collar turned up. He also had his X Gloves Version Vongola Gear on, which were red with orange flame accents.

Sitting on his right was Gokudera of course, and Yamamoto was on his left, along with Ryohei. He, unlike the others, grew his hair out a little, and had it spiked up. He wore the suit and tie with a golden yellow button up shirt and had his hands bound to the knuckles with bandages. He also had white medical tape over the bridge of his nose and his Vongola Gear Sun band on.

Hibari was there also, although he looked like he didn't want to be, because of his dislike of crowds. His bangs and hair was shorter and a little messier. He wore the black suit and tie with a purple button up shirt. He also had his Vongola Gear Cloud metal wristbands around his wrists, and his back was turned away from Vero.

"So what brings you here, Vero-kun?" Tsuna asked casually with a smirk.

"As you may have heard, my Uncle Nero is somewhere loose out there," the young Cavallone boss answered with determination. "He could come after me any time. And I want to be ready for when he comes."

"Why did you choose to come here then?" the Vongola boss questioned further with interest. "Surely there are other teachers you could seek out for help?"

"Well, I sent Uncle Antonio to China as well, and I went to go ask Squalo, but he said no." Vero replied sheepishly as Yamamoto chuckled at the Squalo comment. "So I decided to come here to become stronger, with your help of course."

Tsuna thought for a moment, then turned to the other guardians and he asked, "I'm willing to teach you, but what do you all think?"

Gokudera gazed at Yamamoto and Ryohei, who nodded in agreement before answering. "We will do whatever you think is right, Juudaime. If you say you want to train the Bucking Bronco's kid, then we will help you." He said.

"And Hibari?" the boss added, gazing at the Cloud Guardian expectantly.

Hibari shot a sidelong scowl at Vero before closing his eyes and replying with, "I owe a debt to his mother. I think now is the time to repay it…"

"Very well, it's decided then. We shall train you to become strong enough to stand up to Nero." Tsuna stated. "But before you leave, there are a couple of things that we have been keeping safe for you."

He then gestured his hand to Hibari, who withdrew from the inside pocket of his suit jacket an orange colored rectangle box with icy blue accents and two holes in the top. Hibari then walked up to Vero and handed him the box while saying, "Your mother entrusted this to me. She had it made especially for you, and told me to give it to you when you came to us."

Vero gazed at the box and asked, "Is this…a box animal?" – he turned it over in his hands – "It looks nothing like my dad's…"

"That is because it can only be opened with your Mezzanotte ring and Sky ring." Tsuna explained, referring to the rings on the chain around the young Cavallone boss' neck. "No other rings can open it, and it's the only one of its kind."

"That's nice and all, but…" Vero said with gratitude and uncertainty. "I have no idea on how to use rings and boxes…"

"Don't worry. I'll teach you." Gokudera offered seriously.

Vero nodded with appreciation as he pocketed the box in his vest, before asking further with curiosity, "What is the other thing you mentioned before?"

"Gokudera actually has it." Tsuna stated, as his right hand man pulled an old looking rusty key from within his suit jacket and placed it on the coffee table between them. The young Cavallone boss stared at it with questioning eyes, and then turned his gaze to the silver haired man.

"We found this while starting construction on our base, along with the secret room that can be unlocked with this key." Gokudera explained seriously. "We unlocked it, and found the secret library that the Mezzanotte Primo established."

"R-Really?!" Vero asked with shock. "My mom was searching for years trying to look for that library!"

"It's now yours to do with as you please." Tsuna stated as Vero picked up the key. "We will show you the room later, for it is late and you are in need of some rest I assume?" – Vero nodded, suddenly feeling tired from the trip – "Hibari, show him to his room, please?"

The Cloud Guardian stood by at the door as Vero bowed in respect and said his thanks. He then followed Hibari out into the quiet halls.

"So uh…" Vero said after a few minutes of silence. "I was wondering… What was that debt to my mom you were talking about earlier?"

It seemed to fall on deaf ears, as they walked on for a while longer. Finally they came up to his room, and before Vero closed the door behind him, Hibari spoke up. "Nineteen years ago, your mother traded her life for mine, to save me." The Cloud Guardian stated. "All these years afterward, I tried to repay the debt I owed, but she wouldn't accept it."

"Oh…" Vero commented aloud, regretting a little that he had asked.

"But now I can repay it, by training you." Hibari continued. "We start at six tomorrow morning." – he turned and glared at his new student – "And if you're even one second late, I'll bite you to death."

"Uh, y-yeah." Vero stuttered nervously before his tutor left down the hall. "I'll be there, bright and early…"

He then closed the door and got some well needed rest for his first day of training to prepare for his face off with his Uncle…

* * *

><p><strong>And so the training is underway! It might be a while before I update again, because I'm not sure whether to have the Vongola Guardians train him all in the same day for a month or two, or to just have them train him one at a time. But don't worry, I'll figure it out!<strong>


	23. Cloud Troubles

The next morning, Vero woke up bright and early, just like he said he would, and proceeded to follow his usual morning routine. As soon as he had equipped himself with his trusty whip – the only weapon he really knew how to use at the moment – his stomach started to rumble.

'_Might as well get some breakfast before I start my training.'_ He thought before leaving his room and starting his search for the kitchen.

He found it quite easily, as he remembered that Hibari had pointed it out when they walked by it on the way to his room, among other important places he should know about. He walked in, found something to eat, and ate it quickly, seeing as he was going to be later than usual if he didn't pick up his pace.

Later, he made his way to the elevator to get to the seventh basement level, where he would be sparring with Hibari. When Vero exited the elevator a few minutes later, he found himself in a large room with a tall ceiling, perfect for training without having to worry about wrecking stuff.

"You're late." An irritated voice stated, bringing Vero's attention to the center of the expansive room, where Hibari was waiting.

"Only by a few minutes…" Vero said in reply before his mentor narrowed his eyes at him menacingly. Vero jolted with fear at his mentor's gaze and continued hesitantly, "Um…That is…I was having some breakfast Hibari-san…sir…"

Hibari continued to glower at his student for a moment more, until he relaxed and drew out his tonfa. Vero took the hint, and unclipped his whip from his belt, shifting his body into a comfortable battle stance.

"A bullwhip?" Hibari asked casually. "That is your weapon of choice?"

"Yeah, it's the one I'm most comfortable with," Vero replied as he gazed at the gift his father gave to him so long ago. "Believe me, my mom tried countless times to train me with her type of weapon but I always came out with a black eye somehow…"

"Hmm," Hibari said before raising his tonfa, ready to strike. "Well let's see how long you survive before I bite you to death, Herbivore…"

He then shot forward with no warning at all and made an attempt to strike at Vero, who was caught off guard but dodged to the right. Hibari made no hesitations as he effortlessly changed directions and swung his tonfa at him again, barely missing as Vero backed up, stumbling a little as he did so. Hibari took this chance to strike from the front with an uppercut attack, but was stopped by mere inches as Vero used his whip to block the attack.

The Cloud Guardian glared up at his student, and Vero smirked while saying, "I learned this little defensive maneuver from my dad."

The young Cavallone boss then backed up, and shifted back into his stance as his mentor straightened and continued to glare at him. "You're good at dodging and guarding," he commented seriously. "But when are you going to attack?"

"If I told you that it would ruin the fun of the battle." Vero replied with a confident smirk.

Hibari responded with his own smirk as he said, "You are your parents' son indeed."

"Heh, I've been getting that a lot lately." Vero stated with a laid back grin.

The two then went back to their serious battle modes, running at each other to attack. Hibari was the first to act, swinging a tonfa at his opponent, but Vero moved out of the way and finally readied his whip to attempt an attack. As the Cloud Guardian passed by him, he cracked the whip at Hibari's ankle, wanting to trip him up with it. It didn't work though, as Hibari used his other tonfa to smack the end of the whip away like it was an annoying insect.

Vero was taken by surprise for a moment, then started to calculate his next move as he dodged and blocked his opponent's attacks. _'Whoa, he's so fast!'_ he thought, after barely dodging a possibly fatal strike. _'Not to mention this empty room doesn't help with some of the techniques I've learned either…'_ – he blocked another that was aimed at his torso – _'But that's what I came here to learn. Besides, I've got one last trick up my sleeve…'_

Vero then clipped his whip back to his belt as quick as he could so he would be ready for his opponent's next attack. Hibari was slightly surprised at what his student had just done, but still went in for the attack. Vero blocked it with his arm, and then aimed a round house kick to Hibari's upper body. Hibari blocked it with one of his tonfa, and then used the other to attack. Vero blocked that attack too, and then backed up a little to use a powerful kick to his opponent's chest, but Hibari blocked that with his tonfa crossed over where Vero had aimed.

He then pushed Vero away with them, causing the blond man to stagger backwards and almost lost his balance. The battle went on for a solid four hours, and ended when Hibari got a few continuous hits on Vero and the blonde had collapsed from exhaustion.

"You're stronger than I thought," Hibari said after his student had fallen to his knees. "But you're still weak." – he put his tonfa away – "I was only using a third of my full strength and you didn't even land a hit on me once."

He then walked up to Vero, who was resting on his back on the ground and continued, "I have yet to see the abilities that are exclusive to your mother's side of the family as well."

"I don't…I don't have any." Vero said in reply, still panting for air. "You were expecting to see my version of the Illusione ability…weren't you?" – he gazed up at his mentor, who stared back silently and then sat up – "Well I don't have that ability. Or any other abilities that ran in the family for that matter…"

For a few minutes the two men were silent, until Hibari said to his student, "We're done for today. We spar again tomorrow; same time." He then turned and left the room without another word.

Once Vero had regained some strength, he also left the large training room and went back to his temporary residence, where he rested until he started to smell something heavenly drifting into his room.

'_What is that?'_ he thought, sitting up and taking in deep breaths to smell some more. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it was making his stomach crave whatever it was that he smelled.

"Well, whatever it is, it's making me hungry." He stated aloud as his mouth started to salivate. "Better go find out."

Vero followed the heavenly smells to the kitchen, and walked in with no hesitation. There he saw a young woman with long straight light brown hair that ended just above her waist cooking something up. He only saw her from the back, but he could tell that she was wearing a simple pale lime green dress that ended at her knees and a green cardigan with quarter sleeves over it.

She must have heard the automatic doors open, because she said, "Lunch will be ready in just a few minutes…" before she turned around to face whoever had wandered in.

Turns out, it was Kyoko Sasagawa who was cooking up lunch in the kitchen.

"Oh! Vero-kun!" she said with surprise at the young Cavallone boss. "What a surprise! When did you arrive?"

"Last night actually," Vero replied as he noticed the wedding band on her left ring finger. "I see you finally tied the knot with Uncle Tsuna, Kyoko-san."

"Huh? Oh yes," she said, looking to her ring for a moment while blushing. "We were planning to get married four years ago, but then that horrible event with your parents had Tsuna-kun beside himself with sorrow so we postponed it. Their death had taken everyone by surprise…"

It was true, and no one really accepted Dino's and Rosetta's death.

The funeral was proof of that, as Squalo lashed out at those who had not done anything to prevent it, eventually attacking Vero before being stopped by Tsuna and his Guardians and then leaving halfway through the ceremony right afterwards. Reborn hadn't even shown his face that day either. In fact, everyone on the invite list had come despite their busy schedules.

Everyone except the infamous toddler hitman Reborn.

Some had assumed that he was busy at one of his jobs and couldn't come away from it. But those who were closest to him knew he was the only one who didn't believe their death. No one even knew where he was, and nobody has seen him since before the day of the funeral. Bianchi's even been searching for him every day since then…

"Anyway, we just recently got married," Kyoko continued on a slightly happier note. "We sent you an invitation but you didn't attend. Everyone was concerned."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Vero said. "I was away on my first trip as a boss." – he paused as he gazed over her shoulder at the stove top – "Um…It looks like that pot is boiling over."

Kyoko looked over to the pot and became a little flustered as she quickly took care of it. Vero then offered to help, and she accepted graciously as they cooked what was left to cook together.

The guardians that were presently at the base then started to wander in, following the heavenly smells of lunch wafting out into the halls. Thanks to Vero's help, many various dishes were served to those who came hungry. Gokudera was the last guardian to arrive as usual, but the Vongola boss wasn't with him when he arrived.

"Is Tsuna-kun busy working again?" Kyoko asked, looking as if she already knew the answer to her question.

Gokudera saw it in her face and replied with, "He said to tell you sorry, but yes. He sent me here to grab a plate for him though."

"Of course," Kyoko said with a soft smile before handing Gokudera a couple of plates full of food. "That's why I put together a couple of plates ahead of time."

The Storm Guardian accepted them graciously and apologized once more before exiting the room.

"That's my little sister!" Ryohei commented with a grin as he pumped a fist in the air. "Always prepared to the extreme!"

Yamamoto chuckled a little, gazing towards the door. "I guess it's just the four of us today." He stated as Kyoko sat down to join the males. He then turned to Vero and asked, "I expect you tired Kyoya out, seeing as he didn't come."

Ryohei agreed, before asking how the young Cavallone boss' first day of training went.

"Well, he said he only used a third of strength and still beat me at the end." Vero stated in reply honestly. "I mean, I held my own and did well at evading his attacks, but I couldn't get any hits on him. I've got a long ways to go yet…"

He then looked down at his food with a disheartened expression on his face, before Ryohei snapped him out of it by patting him hard on the back. "Don't worry about it too much! Everyone's got to fail a few times before succeeding!" he said encouragingly. "All you need to do is increase your stamina to the extreme!"

"And we'll all help you with that." Yamamoto added with a grin.

Vero said his thanks with a smile, and after lunch he spent a few hours training on his own, wanting to make some progress in his training with Hibari. He did this in the days to follow, and his hard work had paid off on his last day with the Cloud Guardian as his mentor…

Vero was on his last legs, and Hibari looked as if he was getting bored of the young Cavallone boss. "I'm tired of this." He said, yawning as he turned away.

He was about to leave, but Vero used his whip to latch onto one of his tonfa. As Hibari turned to shoot a glare at the young man, Vero said slowly, "I'm not done yet…"

Hibari removed the end of the whip from the tonfa it was wound around and faced his student. "You're barely standing, let alone having trouble holding onto your consciousness." He stated, looking down at Vero. "My time mentoring you is finished, whether you have become stronger or not."

He was about to leave for real this time, but something in Vero's eyes caught his attention. _'You were right the flames of resolve are burning bright in this boy, Rosetta-san…'_ he thought before making his decision.

"Very well, I will allow you to have one last chance." Hibari said aloud as he shifted back into his stance. "But on one condition…If you do not land a hit on me, you fail, and we'll be done for good."

"Agreed." Vero said in response with no hesitation.

With that, the two ran at each other one last time, Vero lashing his whip at Hibari who was readying his tonfa for a final attack. The snap of a whip and a heavy smack later, Vero was knocked out cold on the ground with his mentor standing over him.

"You should've known that you were too weak to pull this off…" he said seriously before a wound opened on his cheek and a trickle of blood flowed from it. He reached up and wiped off the blood with a smirk, before continuing with, "Hmph. Looks like you still have some fight in you yet." – he scribbled out a quick note on his paper and left it beside the young Cavallone boss before heading to his part of the base.

On the note it was written;

'_**You pass. We start the next phase tomorrow afternoon.'**_

_**-Hibari**_

* * *

><p><strong>Hey there, been a long time since I last submitted a new chapter! Sorry about that, but I was figuring things out for the last few chapters of this one while finishing the other fanfic I was working on. But here it is, and there should be another chapter coming sooner than a month from now (hopefully).<strong>

**Anyway, on another note, I decided to add Kyoko in! I apologize to those of you who are Tsuna x Haru fans, but I kind of put Kyoko together with him on a whim. In all honesty, I support both Tsuna x Kyoko and Tsuna x Haru, but I had to choose one of them to pair with him.**

**Lastly, we're coming to the end of this beautiful fanfic, with five or six chapters to go. I hope you guys stick with me to the end on this one! See you in the next chapter!**


	24. Flames and Phoenixes

"Well this is one cryptic note." Vero pondered aloud later that evening, laying in his bed as he gazed at the note the Cloud Guardian had left for him. "What does it mean by 'You pass'?" – he paused as he stared at the first two words – "Unless…"

He closed his eyes, and tried to remember the last moments of the battle before he collapsed. He could only recall short flashes of Hibari running towards him, the snap of his whip as it cut his opponent somehow, and then the feeling as Hibari knocked him out cold.

Vero paused, as he noticed something a little off about his memory as he thought, _'Hold on a minute…'_

He thought back to the moment when the end of his whip cut into Hibari's cheek. He focused more on the tip and his eyes shot open as he realized.

"Small icy blue flames (1)?!" he said aloud with shock as he sat up. "There were Dying Will flames on the end of my whip! That's how I cut Hibari-san!" Vero smiled as he continued in thought, _'And that means I passed my week with him!'_

He then relaxed, lying back on his bed with a victorious smirk, until something came up in his mind and he gazed back at the note. "What does Hibari-san mean by 'the next phase'…?" he pondered some more. "And tomorrow…I'm starting with a new tutor tomorrow, aren't I?"

He stared at the note for another minute before finishing with this thought, _'Well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow afternoon, and my next tutor will probably reveal himself later…'_

A few minutes passed in silence before Vero heard a knock on the door and he said aloud, "It's open."

While Vero shifted quickly so he was sitting on the edge of his bed he automatic door slid open and in walked Gokudera with a plate of rice balls in his hand.

"We missed you at lunch and dinner. We didn't want to wake you." The Storm Guardian stated as he placed the plate on the table beside the bed and sat on the bed opposite of Vero's. "So Kyoko-san made these for you, because the rice was all that was left when we finished…"

"That's okay," Vero said in reply. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

For a moment there was silence, before Gokudera spoke up and said, "So I heard that you passed Hibari's first phase."

"Yeah, apparently we're starting the next phase tomorrow afternoon." The young Cavallone boss said. "As for the morning…I don't know who's tutoring me next."

"That's why I came here." Gokudera told him seriously. "I'll be tutoring you next."

"About box animals and rings?" Vero asked curiously, as the Storm Guardian nodded.

Gokudera then stood up while saying, "The scheduling for our sessions will probably be at different times every day, because of my duty as the right hand man, so I'll come find you when it's time."

Vero nodded in agreement, before Gokudera headed out and left the young Cavallone boss to eat in peace…

The next day Gokudera came late in the morning and guided Vero to a simple library, where he learned about rings, box weapons, and box animals. He got it all in an hour, which was all the time they had before lunch. Hibari was unexpectedly called out for business for the next couple days so Vero trained by himself until dinner. The day after that was when things really got difficult.

"Okay, so now that we've finished reviewing the lesson from yesterday and you know all that you need to know about rings and boxes," Gokudera stated, proud that Vero picked up on everything quickly. "Let's see if you can produce flames."

Vero nodded, before slipping the Mezzanotte ring on his right ring finger, and the A-rank sky ring on his index finger. He stared at them for a moment, before grasping his hand into a fist and allowing his resolve to set the rings aflame, but nothing happened. The young Cavallone boss was confused, as he continued to try a few times, but still no flames came.

At that moment, Gokudera noticed he was getting a little frustrated and said with encouragement, "Hey, don't worry about it if you can't get it the first time." Vero stopped, but gazed disappointingly at his flameless rings.

"You know, Juudaime had trouble igniting his flames of resolve too." Gokudera continued, as his student looked to him with surprise. "Hard to believe right?" – he smiled a little – "All he had to do was realize his true resolve and the flames followed. Of course, he got a little push from Reborn too…"

"What if I don't have resolve though?" Vero asked slowly.

"Believe me when I say that you do. You just have to realize it, just like Tsuna did." Gokudera replied. "I would suggest that you continue to wear the rings from now on, just in case."

Their session then ended, as they headed for lunch and the next day was the same; no flames, and no Hibari. The day after that his schedule was switched up, as he started his training again with Hibari. It was very much the same as their previous training sessions, except that Hibari had his tonfa engulfed in Cloud flames. That and he wasn't holding back as much as he was last time.

"I'm away for two days and you're already slacking." Hibari stated after a bout where he came out victorious. "Where is that strength you showed me the other day? Where is your resolve?" Vero's eyes widened with surprise, before the Cloud Guardian continued with, "Hayato-san told me that you have been having trouble with your resolve."

"I've tried for the past couple of days…but nothing came." The young Cavallone boss replied truthfully.

"What was your resolve when you tried?" Hibari questioned further.

Vero was lost in thought for a moment, before he shrugged and said, "I don't know. I guess I was just thinking of my mom and dad, and how I wanted to protect them."

"Not good enough." The Cloud Guardian suddenly told him. "There is something stirring inside you that is stronger than that." His student opened his mouth to protest, but Hibari cut him off as he continued with, "It came forth when you cut me with your whip coated with the small icy blue flames," – he shifted back into his battle stance – "And I'll force that resolve out of you again if I have to."

The two then continued to clash, until Vero was once again on his last legs and backed up against the wall. Hibari attempted to strike at Vero's head, but the student ducked away from his teacher's attack, causing the wall behind him to crack from the impact. But Hibari was expecting that, as he quickly turned and got Vero on his chin. He flew back, as Hibari followed and pinned him to the wall.

"What are you going to do now, Herbivore?" Hibari asked, slowly pushing harder on his opponent's collar bone. "You can't do anything at this point. You're weak. It's over."

Vero had his head bowed at that point, until he looked up and glared into his tutor's eyes. Hibari's eyes widened, before he backed up quickly just in time to dodge the strongest of energy pulses that emanated from the young Cavallone boss. A strong gust of wind followed the pulses as Hibari shielded his eyes from it.

When the pulses stopped, he gazed at his student, and found that Vero's eyes showed a strong resolve. Not only that, but he had set his rings alight and his whip was engulfed in sky and icy blue flames.

Vero stood there for a moment, until the flames faded away and he calmed down. "Whoa," he uttered with surprise, still feeling the power within him as he examined his whip and rings. "Did I just…?" He trailed off, as the two heard clapping coming from the elevator.

"Congratulations Cavallone," Gokudera announced with a smirk while walking into the training room. "You've just found your resolve."

"With my help." Hibari interjected sternly. "It was obvious that the boy couldn't get anywhere without a little push."

"And I thank you for your participation with that Hibari." The Storm Guardian said in reply.

The Cloud Guardian then yawned and went to leave saying, "My job is done. I'm leaving the rest to you."

Once he had gone, Vero walked up to Gokudera before saying with crossed arms, "So you set this up together then?"

"Are you upset about it?" Gokudera asked, a little sorry about it.

"No," the young Cavallone boss answered. "But I've got to say that this is better than me getting frustrated while trying on my own."

The two of them then went to lunch before commencing with their lesson afterwards.

"So, I'm a little curious," Gokudera stated as soon as they both sat down in the library. "What is your resolve?"

"Well, while fighting with Hibari-san, I realized that I wanted to become stronger in order to protect those I hold close," Vero replied before pausing briefly. "And those I could have protected…"

A short silence fell between them, and then Gokudera pushed Vero's special box animal to him. Upon seeing his student's curious expression he said, "I'm just about as curious as you are to see what kind of animal your mother requested for you."

Vero hesitated for a moment, before grabbing the box and igniting the flames on his rings. He then fed the flames into the holes and held it out. It opened, glowing with a bright light as an echoing call could be heard. Once the light faded they saw an extravagant male phoenix standing gracefully on the table between them.

He was about four feet tall, with sparkling gold, red, and orange feathers. He gazed around the room, taking in his surroundings, before he looked to Vero and squawked softly with gratitude.

"He's beautiful." Vero commented with a smile while watching the phoenix groom himself.

"What are you going to name him?" Gokudera asked him after a moment.

"You named yours?" the young Cavallone boss replied with his own question. His mentor nodded, before gazing at the majestic bird now perched on his shoulder and said, "I think I'll name him…Ciro (2)."

So ended that day of training. The next day, the two of them discussed more about Vero's box animal.

"You remember what this is?" Gokudera questioned, gesturing to a lone ring sitting on the desk.

"Yeah, that's a sun ring." Vero answered with no hesitation. "Looks like an A-rank." – he looked to his mentor with a curious expression on his face – "Why is this here?"

"As you may or may not know, phoenixes have certain healing abilities – their tears." Gokudera explained. "Since that's the case, I was thinking you could use Ciro's healing abilities through the activation characteristics in the sun flames."

"But I have sky attributes," the young Cavallone boss said. "I don't think I have any others…"

"Some people have multiple attributes flowing within them." The Storm Guardian told him with a smirk. "You won't know unless you try."

Vero nodded hesitantly, slipped the ring on his middle finger, and ignited the flames with his resolve. Sure enough, sun flames came up, along with the other two. He then opened his box animal with the flames, and Ciro emerged with new sun flames sparkling on his wings.

He exchanged looks with his mentor and Gokudera said, "Looks like you're one of those people."

With that, Gokudera had taught Vero all he needed to know, but that didn't mean the Storm Guardian was done with him.

On his last day, Gokudera led him to a hallway far out in the base, to the door Gokudera had promised to show him. Vero unlocked the door and walked in, the Storm Guardian not too far behind.

As he stood in the middle of the spacious room, Gokudera turned the lights on while he said, "We haven't even touched this room since we discovered it, and so it's pretty much been the same since we found it."

Vero took in his surroundings, seeing just metal shelves stacked with journals that lined the walls. All except for one, which was only filled two thirds of the way. His brow furrowed with confusion, as he reached out to grab the last book on the shelf. He then skimmed through it, before pausing halfway through the journal.

"This can't be right…" Vero muttered half to himself. "Mom told me that the Primo Mezzanotte recorded all future peace threatening events."

"Why? What's wrong?" Gokudera asked, as he came to stand by the young Cavallone boss.

"Well it ends right here, after my parents' deaths," Vero said with shock in his voice. "There's nothing else written after that. It's all blank!"

* * *

><p><strong>1 – the icy blue Dying Will flames are the same as the ones Tsuna saw in Rosetta in her fight with Nero.<strong>

**2 – Ciro means 'like the sun' in Italian. A fitting name for a phoenix, don't you think.**

**Anyway, sorry (once again) for the delay. I would have finished this chapter last week, but it was just so chaotic and I was coming home so tired that I didn't want to write anything. But here it is now! More to come, hopefully sooner than the end of July, with the combination of two training sessions in one to make it less dull on you guys.**


	25. The Rain, the Sun, and the Sky

Gokudera's eyes widened with shock, as he took a look in the journal and said, "There really is nothing written after that." – he looked up at Vero – "But what if there's another journal after this one?"

"That can't be possible." Vero said, after examining the last shelf and its contents. "The rest of that journal is empty, and the journals before it only have events that preceded my parents' deaths."

"This is quite the conundrum…" Gokudera pondered, before seeing the young Cavallone boss with a disappointed expression on his face. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out."

Vero gazed at the last journal entry silently for a minute, and he said slowly, "It doesn't even say anything about the killer, nor does it say that they even died. I thought this would give me answers, but in the end I still couldn't find anything…"

Gokudera placed his hand on his grieving student's shoulder, about to comfort and encourage him, when they heard a familiar voice from the doorway. It said, "Hey, find anything useful in here?" The two men turned to where the source of the voice was to see Yamamoto leaning against the door frame.

Vero immediately looked away with disappointment in reply to the Rain Guardian's question, while Gokudera sighed with frustration as he scratched the back of his head.

"That bad huh?" Yamamoto continued as he gazed at them with concern. He then walked up to one of the shelves, scanned the spines, and pulled out a journal before flipping through it. When he got to the end, he shook his head and put it back.

"What are you looking for, Yamamoto-san?" Vero asked, watching the man flip through another journal before putting that one back too.

"After she told Tsuna, Rosetta told all of us about what happened to her parents and close family." He answered after he had found the written event in the third journal he pulled off the shelf. "I don't know if it will be any help to you, but Rosetta's description of the event sounded a lot like her and Dino's death."

Vero took the journal Yamamoto handed to him and compared the two entries. Oddly enough, they were pretty much exactly the same.

"But it still doesn't say who did this." The young Cavallone boss said when he was done.

"With this, we can at least assume that the same person is the culprit for both of these events though." Gokudera explained.

"That brings us a little closer to the answer." Yamamoto added. "Did your mother tell you anything about what happened to her family?"

"No, not really. I don't think she wanted to push her burdens on me." Vero replied. "But when I became boss, I found her notes and files on that day she lost her parents. She had many theories but most of them pointed to her brother Nero."

"That seems right." Gokudera stated with thought. "After all, he did endanger our lives after hiding out here in Nanimori and attacking Hibari."

"Then one thing is for sure," the young Cavallone boss said aloud with determination. "Whatever happened to my grandparents and parents, Nero will most likely have all the answers.

"If he's willing to give them." The Storm Guardian added, before a question popped into his mind. "Thanks for making things a little clearer Yamamoto, but why did you come back here in the first place?"

The Rain Guardian was lost in thought for a moment, until he chuckled lightheartedly. "Sorry, I nearly forgot to tell you," he answered once he had finished. "Kyoko-chan told me to find you and tell you that the meal is ready."

"No wonder my stomach feels so empty." Vero said in response with mild surprise.

"Yeah, we've been down here for a while." Gokudera added, as he checked his watch. "I wouldn't be surprised if Ryohei already finished his meal…"

The three men then headed back to the kitchen after locking the Mezzanotte records back up. Vero then realized that he would be late with Hibari and ate as fast as he could. When he finished, he thanked Kyoko for the food, and then proceeded to leave, but Yamamoto took him aside for a moment.

"Hey, if you're worried about Hibari-san, don't sweat it." He told Vero. "Just tell him I held you back and I'll take care of the rest."

The young Cavallone boss nodded, before heading off to his usual training spot. There he inquired about Hibari's encounter with Nero, and the Cloud Guardian told him towards the end of their training session. Upon hearing that Hibari was defeated instantly by Rosetta's brother, Vero now knew that he couldn't take his uncle as lightly as he had been. He would now have to take his training more seriously if he wanted to defeat his uncle Nero once and for all.

Later, during the evening meal, Yamamoto was revealed to be Vero's next tutor, as he told him to come to basement level ten (1) with his sword.

The next day, when he arrived to the level he was told about, he found himself in a Japanese style building, complete with wooden floors and sliding paper doors. There in one of the rooms, he found Yamamoto training in traditional Japanese men's clothing.

Vero watched for a moment as Yamamoto focused on the straw dummy before him and then dashed towards it after saying, "Shigure Soen Ryu Stance One: Shajiku no Ame (2)." The straw dummy was then split in half and the Rain Guardian relaxed, putting his sword away.

It was then that Vero praised his mentor by saying, "That was amazing Yamamoto-san!"

The swordsman turned to him with a surprised expression before he said with a smile, "Oh Vero. I didn't even notice you there."

"You were that focused?" the young Cavallone boss asked. "Wow, I hope to become a great swordsman like you and Uncle Squalo."

"With a lot of practice and focus, I'm sure you will be someday." The Rain Guardian told him with a smile. "You got your sword?"

"Yeah, here it is." Vero answered while drawing it out of its sheath and handing it to his mentor to take a look at it. A few minutes passed before Yamamoto spoke, as he took in every detail and weighed the sword in his hands.

"It's a fine sword. Very well made. And you say its name is Forte Amore – Strong Love?" he finally said, turning to his student who nodded in reply. "It's a little hard to believe that your uncle wielded such a sword."

"Why do you say that?" the young Cavallone boss questioned with curiosity.

In reply, Yamamoto handed the sword back to him and told him, "Focus on the sword's aura and tell me what you feel."

For a moment, Vero closed his eyes and concentrated, then opened his eyes before shooting a confused expression at Yamamoto. "I don't feel anything at all." He said.

"Exactly. You would think that being in the possession of such a man as Nero would result in the sword having a menacing aura." The Rain Guardian explained. "But Forte Amore doesn't have any aura at all, which means either the aura has dissipated over the time it has been in your mother's care or…"

"The sword never really chose my uncle as its wielder in the first place." Vero finished before continuing with thought. "Actually, come to think of it, I think I remember my mom telling Squalo that Nero took the sword as his own when he was younger."

A look of genuine surprise appeared on the Rain Guardian's face as he said, "Really?"

"Yeah, apparently my mom's father had a sword custom-made to be a family heirloom, but when Nero saw it; he kept it despite the scolding he got for stealing it." Vero continued, pausing for a long moment before mentioning something else. "Uncle Squalo and my mom actually came to their own theory about Forte Amore. They think that the sword was actually made for me, that it was probably going to be a gift to me from my grandfather."

"That might just be true." Yamamoto said in response. He then realized that the two of them had spent the past forty-five minutes talking and suggested that they get started.

He couldn't promise that Vero would be using his sword by the end of the week, but they did go over important things that he needed to know and the basics. As he concentrated on going over the sword skills he learned that day, his mind often wandered back to when Squalo had told him of the rough sword duel he had with Nero.

"It definitely wasn't a fair fight." Vero remembered the silver haired swordsman saying; before he went on to describe the duel in detail. "I was almost going to win when he turns around and uses some sort of sorcery to defeat me!"

"Word Conjuring…" Vero said slowly.

"Eh?" Squalo uttered.

"Word Conjuring. That's what my uncle used against you." The young Cavallone boss explained. "He and my mom can use ordinary words as weapons, or pretty much anything against people and things. Although, my mom doesn't use it much."

"So that's the answer…" Squalo continued with thought, as Vero's memory ended there…

Once Vero had gotten all of the basics of swordsmanship, he was then turned over to Ryohei, who had taught the young Cavallone boss a fighting technique that he had learned when he was a youth. This was good, because Hibari was done with sparring in the afternoon, as was requested by Ryohei so he could concentrate.

So he spent the first three days in rest, charging his body to learn the attack, and the remainder of the week refining the attack and training to get ready for his supposed final test with Tsuna.

The day had come, and Vero was more than ready.

He had gone down to the basement level seven possibly for the final time, and stepped out on the floor. There he found all his tutors he had over the past few weeks – even Hibari – standing against the wall and ready to oversee the battle.

And standing in the middle of the room waiting for his opponent was Tsuna with his Vongola gloves on, ready to start. "Are you ready for the final test?" the Vongola boss asked.

"More than ready." Vero replied with determination.

Tsuna smirked in response as he went into Hyper Dying Will Mode with the aid of his pills and stated, "Let's see what you learned then."

The young Cavallone boss followed suit as he got his whip at the ready but then stopped. "Wait," he said, realizing something. "What do I have to do to pass the test?"

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." The Vongola boss said in reply. "To pass, all you have to do is cut me once."

Vero thought that was pretty surprising, seeing as it was a simple way to pass, but he agreed to the conditions nonetheless.

The test then started, as Tsuna shot towards Vero in the blink of an eye, using his flames to propel him forward. He then went to punch Vero with the momentum he had, but Vero stepped out of the way before cracking his whip at him.

It was then Tsuna's turn evade the attack, as he blocked it with the cape he was wearing before stepping it up and using more powerful attacks. Vero responded to this by quickly cracking his whip coated with icy blue and sky flames over and over again to keep Tsuna at bay.

Once he had finished his barrage of attacks, his opponent commented with, "I see that skill you've developed reminds me of your father's Salto Volante Veloce Come Luce (3)."

"Well there's more where that came from." The young Cavallone boss stated in reply with a determined smirk.

The battle went on, and the two bosses were at the same level, as Vero used the skills he learned to equally match Tsuna's, but he never really got any hits on him. That is, until Tsuna resorted to using his X Burner, as he went into position in midair. He didn't have to charge for the attack, because he used his box animal Natsu for Cambio Forma Modo Attacko (4), so Vero had to act fast.

He opened his own box animal, making sure to use his Sun flames to do so. He then combined Ciro with the Maximum Canon that he had learned from Ryohei, shooting the phoenix to take Tsuna's X Burner head on. For a minute Ciro struggled, but he eventually overcame the Sky flames and flew right towards Tsuna. The Vongola boss dodged to the side, but was knocked back a little by the flames and dropped to the ground.

Once everything had died down, and Ciro had flown back to Vero, Tsuna's shirt sleeve split open and a fresh wound appeared. Vero had passed his final test.

"You pass Vero, Congratulations." Tsuna announced with a smirk. "I have been hearing about you for the past few weeks and you have become significantly stronger." – he paused – "Although, I was hoping to see how far you've come with the sword."

"Oh, well I took Yamamoto's words to heart and decided to train a little more until I'm confident in my sword skills." Vero replied. "But I will need to train more to boldly come face-to-face with Nero."

"Of course." Tsuna agreed. "Let's just hope you have enough time before he comes to issue that challenge."

It was serious for the moment, but a celebration then took place, as all of them headed up to have a celebratory meal that was provided by Kyoko. But that was soon crashed, as the guardians that were in China along with Antonio. And they brought news too.

"So how was everything in China?" Vero asked his great uncle once everyone had settled down.

"It's okay now, but it wasn't when I arrived." Antonio replied. "It turns out that Nero took one of his temper tantrums and ravaged the place. Thankfully no one got really hurt, and it helped that these guys were here to help too." As he finished he gave a nod of thanks to his travel companions and to Tsuna for sending them.

"Do you know where he is now?" the young Cavallone boss questioned further with concern.

His great uncle hesitated for a moment before answering with, "We believe that he's caught wind that you're here and he's probably on his way as we speak."

All who heard the news looked on in shock, before Gokudera asked, "When will he arrive?"

"We're not sure, but I believe that we have about a week before he finds the base and infiltrates it." Antonio replied before gazing to an uneasy Vero.

"It looks like you'll be facing your uncle sooner than we thought." Tsuna commented.

"If we've got a week, then I'll be ready for him." Vero stated before turning to Yamamoto. "I'm going to need more sword training."

The Rain Guardian agreed, and Tsuna went on to say, "We'll be ready for him too, to defend our base."

The others were all in too, and continued to enjoy a wonderful meal, but deep down, they were all a little apprehensive and anxious about Nero's arrival, due to happen in a week…

* * *

><p><strong>1 – Sorry for the confusion with the floors, as I wrote that Vero was training with Hibari on the tenth floor to begin with. Well, I changed that floor to seven, as I realized the Japanese style floor was the tenth one. It's all fixed now!<strong>

**2 – Basically the first stance, with the literal translation of "Axle of Rain". A simple move, just a thrust. Just wanted to translate for those of you who didn't know.**

**3 – TYL Dino's move: Jumping Flying Fast Like Light; used in episode 191 or 192 (if you want to leave a comment to clarify on that, go ahead, but I haven't watched the series in a while. I'm currently watching it at the moment though.**

**4 – Change Form Attack Mode, where Tsuna uses Natsu in his glove so he doesn't have to charge for an X Burner. Pretty much explained it earlier but decided to add this in.**

**It's drawing down, with just two more chapters to go! Although, sorry if you're raring to see Vero vs. Nero, but the next chapters going to be another break chapter, with another flashback, then I'll be writing hopefully the most epic battle between uncle and nephew. Hope you stay till the end, cuz it's going to be one heck of a twist!**


	26. The Calm Before the Storm

The final week was now drawing to an end, as everyone restlessly anticipated Nero's imminent arrival. Vero in particular had honed his sword skills and was finally ready to take his uncle head on, and the guardians were ready to protect their base too.

Tonight was the end of the calm before the storm, but instead of mentally preparing for the battle ahead, Vero's mind was travelling down memory lane. As he closed his eyes, his mind journeyed back to a carefree six year old life…

* * *

><p>"<em>Momma!" Vero exclaimed while entering Rosetta's office.<em>

_Upon hearing her son's entrance, she turned from her work to him and asked with a bright smile, "Well, where have you been today my little adventurer?"_

"_I was in the library momma," her son answered obediently before pulling out a photo. "I found this when I was looking through the picture books."_

_He handed her the photo and the two kids she saw standing beside each other brought her way back to her childhood. "Oh my…" she uttered, as a nostalgic expression appeared on her face. "It's been ages since I've seen this photo…"_

"_Who are the kids in it?" Vero asked suddenly, bringing his mother from her memories._

"_Well, believe it or not," Rosetta answered as she sat her son on her lap so they could look at the photo together. "That's your father and I, when we were about your age."_

"_Really?!" Vero exclaimed as he gazed at the photo, trying to comprehend that his parents were once his age. He paused, and then continued with another question, "Momma, can you tell me how you and daddy met?"_

"_Of course I can!" Rosetta replied with no hesitation as she started to tell her son of how she and Dino first met…_

…_._

_**It was a beautiful sunny summer day, perfect for spending at the beach or amusement park, which was exactly what the five year old Rosetta and her family were doing at Mafia Land*. Although, her father had to leave to take care of some important business. So he left his wife to take care of their children for a few minutes…**_

"_**Mom, can I ride that one?" Nero asked as he pointed to the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the park.**_

"_**Hmm…I don't think you're tall enough for that one yet…" his mother, Annalisa replied after gazing at the ride with concern.**_

_**Annalisa Mezzanotte is about five feet seven inches tall with green colored eyes and shoulder length black hair in a half updo. She was currently wearing a lavender sundress with matching sandals and a white straw sunhat.**_

_**She turned back to her son with a smile and continued with, "Maybe you can ride it next time Nero."**_

"_**But you told me that last time Mom!" her son complained with his arms crossed.**_

"_**Oh dear…" Annalisa muttered half to herself before realizing that her daughter wasn't anywhere in her sights. "Nero-honey, did you see where your sister wandered off to?"**_

"_**Beats me." He replied with a careless tone in his voice, signifying that he was still upset about the roller coaster.**_

_**Knowing that Rosetta's older brother wasn't going to be any help, Annalisa commenced to call out for Rosetta. Her daughter then promptly showed herself a few minutes later with a blonde boy looking to be a couple years older than her trailing behind.**_

"_**What did I tell you about wandering off on your own Rosetta?!" Annalisa asked with worry and anger, ignoring the boy for a moment.**_

"_**This boy was crying Mommy," her daughter explained before her companion complained that he wasn't. "He lost his dad."**_

_**The mother's expression remained unchanged for a moment, and then softened as she then turned to the boy with tears in his eyes.**_

"_**Hello, I'm Annalisa, Rosetta's mother. And this is Nero, my son and Rosetta's older brother." She told him gently with a smile. "May I ask what your name is?"**_

_**The boy hesitated for a moment before he replied softly with, "Um…I'm Dino Cavallone…"**_

_**Annalisa's eyes widened with realization for a fraction of a second before she rose with a warm smile on her face.**_

"_**So are we going to help him Mommy?" Rosetta asked.**_

"_**Of course we are!" she answered with determination.**_

"_**Yeah!" her daughter exclaimed. "Let's go find your dad, Dino!"**_

_**He wiped his tears away and agreed as the three of them started their search with Nero following calmly behind them. They all enjoyed themselves greatly, riding rides and seeing the sites as they looked for Dino's father. **_

_**Although he was a little shy at first, Dino quickly opened up, and was almost sad that they found his father when they were having so much fun. And they found the man having coffee and chatting with none other than Rosetta's father.**_

"_**Hey Daddy!" Rosetta exclaimed as she ran up to her father, disregarding her mother's urges to wait until the men were finished. "Are you done with your work now?"**_

_**Her father Xaviero gazed upon his expectant daughter and smiled warmly before he answered with, "Well, I was just telling my good friend here about you and my wonderful family, so it's good that you just showed up."**_

_**Xaviero Mezzanotte, the boss of the Mezzanotte family, Annalisa's husband, and Rosetta's and Nero's father, stood at about five feet eleven inches with clear blue eyes with the Mezzanotte star in his right eye. He also had dark reddish brown hair that he had loosely slicked back and ended at the nape of his neck. His sideburns extended to a slightly scruffy beard that curled up at his chin. He was currently wearing a crisp white button up shirt that had the collar upturned and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He also wore dark grey slacks, black dress shoes, and a belt with silver oval buckle. On the buckle it showed a starry night sky – complete with crescent moon.**_

_**Xaviero then turned to his friend and started with the introductions "Signor Cavallone, may I introduce to you my daughter Rosetta, my son Nero," he said, motioning to each of them. "And of course, my beautiful wife Annalisa."**_

"_**Cavallone?" Rosetta uttered immediately after the introductions. "Are you Dino's dad?"**_

"_**Why yes I am." The boss of the Cavallone family answered with a smile before glancing at his son. "And I see that he has found a friend in you my dear."**_

"_**Friend…?" Rosetta asked, as she became a little sad. "I don't know…People who usually become my friends usually end up leaving me because they find out that I'm…different…"**_

"_**Well, Dino isn't all that different from you then," the Cavallone boss explained. "You see, Dino hasn't opened up to anyone since his mother passed away." – he smiled as he gazed at his shy son – "That is, until today."**_

"_**So will you be Dino's friend Rosetta?" Xaviero asked expectantly.**_

_**For a moment she thought, uncertain on what to do. Then she realized what it must feel like to have no friends, as opposed to even having friends for even a little while. She then gazed at Dino, who blushed and evaded her stare.**_

_**At that moment, she knew her answer, and gave it with confidence. "Okay, I will." Rosetta replied…**_

_..._

"_And ever since then, I would come live here temporarily every summer to spend time with your father." Rosetta finished with a smile._

"_Wait, so dad was a crybaby when he was younger?" Vero asked curiously with disbelief._

"_No, I was just a little overly shy, that's all." Dino answered from his place at the doorway._

_Vero was surprised that he was there, but Rosetta was unfazed as she asked, "You were there this whole time, weren't you?"_

"_Yeah, pretty much." Dino replied with a grin. "Am I really that predictable?"_

"_I think I'll leave that question unanswered…" was all Rosetta had to say with a smirk._

_Vero just grinned, happy that his parents met and had him together, for if they didn't, he wouldn't even exist…_

* * *

><p>A loud blaring alarm suddenly woke Vero from his light sleep, as he jolted up just in time for a large gaping hole to appear when Hibari was thrown into the room, hitting the wall.<p>

"Hibari-san!" he shouted as he ran over to the Cloud Guardian. "What's happening?!"

"I can't believe you slept through the alarm…You are indeed your father's son…" Hibari uttered with a smirk before becoming serious. "It's your uncle Nero…"

"He's here then?!" Vero asked further. "How are the other Vongola members doing?"

"We tried to hold him off, but he's determined to come to you…"

"So they're probably hurt too…" Vero stood up with an uncertain determination apparent on his face. "I guess it's time…"

"Yes indeed my nephew…" a malicious voice said from the gaping hole behind them. "It's time to finish this, once and for all…"

* * *

><p><strong> * If you didn't already know, Mafia Land is an island established by the pooling of all of the Mafia family's money to build a place where they can all go to enjoy themselves and get a well deserved rest. Just thought I'd let you know in case you already didn't know.<strong>

**And that's the end of that chapter! Sorry for the lateness, but the SanJapan comic con set me back a little… Now we're down ****to the final showdown between uncle and nephew. Who will win? You'll just have to wait until the next chapter! XD**


	27. To An Uncertain Future

Vero gritted his teeth as he stared down his uncle.

It was his first time seeing Nero in person, but he looked the same in all of the pictures Rosetta had had of him back when she was tracking him. The only thing that was different was the katana he was pointing at Vero right now.

Of course, that was because Vero had Forte Amore sheathed and at his side now, along with his trusty whip and animal box – lucky that he did so, as he would have been in a bind if he hadn't.

Vero quickly reached for his whip and cracked it at his uncle, but Nero was faster than that. In the blink of an eye, he was next to Vero, as he kicked his nephew in the middle, sending him flying across the room and slamming him into the wall. Nero followed, and held Vero by his neck against the wall. The young Cavallone boss struggled as his uncle tightened his grip, a victorious grin growing on his face.

But he was stopped short of finishing the deed by a large purple spiked sphere tearing him away and knocking him into the hallway, crashing into a few walls in the process. Meanwhile, Vero fell to his knees and coughed as he regained his composure. He then looked over to Hibari, who was the source of the attack, as his Vongola box was open and he was standing up, getting his weapons ready.

"You need to leave now, while he's held down." The Cloud Guardian ordered seriously. "I'll do my best to keep it that way until you get far enough away."

"Will you be okay on your own Hibari-san?" Vero asked after he stood up.

"Who do you think I am?" He replied with a deadly glare. "Now go!"

The young Cavallone boss nodded with a smirk, and then left down the hall through the gaping hole left in the wall of his room. Hibari followed him out, but stopped when his box animal returned to its box. As he watched Nero approach, he got ready to defend as he thought, _'I've done all I can, but I hope this was enough to repay my debt to you…Rosetta-san…'_

Vero was halfway to the nearest elevator when he heard the defeated cry of Hibari and not too long after, Nero had caught up to him. As soon as he did, he slashed at his nephew, who ducked to dodge the attack as he continued to run.

'_Rgh! I thought Hibari-san would buy me more time than this…'_ Vero thought with uncertainty as sweat ran down his face. _'But I guess even he couldn't hold my uncle back. I hope he's okay…'_

He quickly rounded the corner and approached the elevator. He moved to push the button to call it and open the doors, but realized that the door was open and nothing was there.

"Oh how unfortunate for you," Nero spoke from behind him. Vero turned to face him quickly, gritting his teeth with narrowed eyes. "I wonder how far down that shaft goes…" his uncle continued with a smirk. "Oh well, it doesn't matter to me how I get rid of you, just that I do." He then shoved Vero into the shaft and down to his demise.

Or so he thought, because Vero was a quick thinker, as he swiftly came up with a way to stop his fall. He drew his whip out once more and used it to take a hold of a bar on the side of the wall. He swung over and hit the wall, but that was nothing compared to plummeting to his death.

Vero gazed down to see that he wasn't that far from the bottom, and with the simple jerk of his whip, it was released from the bar. He fell the last few yards and landed on the top of the elevator, just as he heard an angered shout from his uncle above.

'_Since he saw that, he might not be too far behind.'_ Vero thought before noticing a gap big enough for him to crawl through. He quickly slid through the gap, and found himself in one of the many training rooms.

'_Good. A nice large area, better than battling in the hallway I guess…'_ Vero thought as he considered the pros and cons of his current situation. _'Although…I can't run anywhere now…'_ – he shifted into his battle stance as he waited for his uncle to emerge from the only opening in the room – _'I have no choice but to face my fate and defeat my uncle!'_

At that moment Nero dropped into the room slowly, as he knew his opponent couldn't flee anywhere else now.

"Well, well, well," he said, approaching a little closer. "It looks like you've got nowhere else to go. What will you do now, Vero Mezzanotte Cavallone?"

"I'll fight you, get the truth about my parents' deaths," Vero answered with determination. "And then I'll defeat you, once and for all."

Nero let out a hearty laugh at his nephew's words, and when he was done, he said, "Your mother was as determined, and she also used much of the same words, but look where she is now…" – he smirked as Vero gritted his teeth with narrowed eyes at him – "And because of your foolishness, you'll soon be following her…"

"Not if I can stop you first." Vero stated seriously.

He then ran forward, and cracked his whip at Nero to at least take his weapon away, but Nero just kept jumping out of the way effortlessly to dodge the repetitive attacks. He didn't even make any attempt to counterattack, as he was probably planning to wear Vero out before finishing him off. Vero realized that quickly, and injected his whip with his Dying Will flames before using his own version of his father's Salto Volante Veloce Come Luche move.

Nero backed up immediately, mildly surprised but quickly became calm again as he said, "That trick is pretty impressive, but I can do the same."

He then ran his hand along the blade of his katana, and as he did, sky flames followed. For a moment, he stood still, calculating the movements of the whip, until he smirked as he walked forward and brought the sword down, cutting the whip clean in half. Vero paused for a moment, but wasn't totally fazed as he dropped the whip and unsheathed Forte Amore.

Nero gazed at him angrily for a moment, before letting it go and saying, "I hope you know how to use that, because if you don't, that will be very unfortunate for you…"

Vero gulped nervously, but got it together quickly enough to block his uncle's first attack on him.

"Apparently you do…" Nero continued as they crossed swords once more and stayed at a standstill, struggling against each other. "But no matter what you do, that will only prevent you from following you parents for just a little longer…"

He then pushed Vero away, and that's when the young Cavallone boss decided to inquire about his parents…

"I've done some research, and I found out that you are the one who is most likely tied to my parents' and grandparents' deaths." He said steadily. "So, do you know what happened, that day when they died?"

"Funnily enough, your mother asked me the same question as she inquired about our parents and the inner Mezzanotte Family." Nero replied willingly. "Like I did before, I won't tell you the answer, but I'm feeling a little generous today. I'll give you a little clue, since you seem smart enough to put two and two together." – he paused for a minute – "I was there, for both slaughters. They put up quite the fight, but I was the only one to come out alive…"

Vero's eyes widened as he finally learned the truth. His family was all killed by Nero, murdered in cold blood. He started to shiver uncontrollably at the thought as he asked, "Where…Where are their bodies then…?"

"That would be a trade secret." His uncle answered cryptically, as he noticed Vero was about to break down. "What? Are you giving up now that you know the truth? That's a bummer, seeing as-."

"How could you…?" the young Cavallone boss interrupted suddenly.

"Well it was pretty easy…" Nero boasted with a smirk, before Vero interrupted him again.

"My mom, your sister!" he shouted, tears spilling down his face. "She was three months pregnant! How could you do that? How could you kill her when she didn't do anything to you?!"

"You know nothing! Rosetta…She took everything from me! Everything I wanted to be!" Nero shouted right back with anger. "Even my parents knew she was going to be the next boss. That's why I killed them all, and you're the only one standing in the way of what I want now!"

With that, he dashed forward and slashed madly at Vero, but he blocked every attack calmly, despite the fact that he was angered by his uncle's actions. At the right moment, he dropped his sword, then grabbed it with his other hand and surprised Nero by slashing at him with the back of his sword. Nero fell back from the impact, and stared up at his nephew, exhausted.

Vero sheathed his sword, and upon seeing him do that, Nero asked, "You're not going to kill me and finish this?"

"No, even though you killed my parents, and my grandparents," the young Cavallone boss replied with an angered expression. "My mom and dad taught me that killing isn't the way…" – he turned away from him – "Besides, I'm sure the Vindiche will be happy to have you in chains again…"

He started to walk away, and that's when Nero took his chance to jump up and stab him in the back. Vero sensed this, and quickly turned, roundhouse kicking Nero's sword across the room. He then opened his box animal and used his Maximum Canon to launch Ciro at Nero. The phoenix flew right through him, and engulfed him in the healing sun flames as he shouted out with surprise and pain.

"Argh! What did you do to me?!" he asked as he when down, before he lost consciousness.

"That was interesting…" Vero said aloud with wonder as Ciro came back to him and alighted on his shoulder. "What did that do?"

He then walked over to his uncle and bent over him. For a split second, the thought of killing the man popped into his mind, but he pushed it away, knowing his mother wouldn't want to follow his uncle down that path.

Instead, Vero grabbed him by the collar and said half to himself, "Still, I feel like you didn't tell me the whole truth. Why is that?"

He was about to just drop him and leave to go check on everyone when Nero's eyes suddenly popped open. He gasped with fear upon seeing his nephew so close, and pushed the young man away before backing up to the wall. Vero followed, and when he was within a foot in front of him, Nero uttered quickly, "Please don't! Don't come any closer!"

In response, Vero stood where he was, but gazed at his uncle unbelievingly with an eyebrow raised. "This is a new low, even for you." He said as he crouched down, making Nero flinch. "Are you faking it again so you can finish me when my back is turned?"

"No, no I swear!" Nero replied immediately. "I'll even tell you everything you want to know! The whole truth!"

"The whole truth?" the young Cavallone boss asked slowly. "I thought you already told me you killed them."

"I was…I was lying when I said that…" Nero told him hesitantly. "You see, I faked their deaths. They're still alive."

"What about the blood?"

"Stolen from the hospital after a blood donation."

Vero gazed at his uncle with disbelief, thinking that he was lying about this whole thing. "What did you do when you faked their deaths then?" he asked further.

"I figured out a way to use Word Conjuring on my family. Using that, I sent them away and then made it look like they were killed by messing up the place and splattering the blood everywhere." Nero answered, recounting his actions. "Then I fled the scene."

Vero let out a short breath after he heard everything and then said, "You know the more you say the less I'm starting to believe you."

"It's all true, I swear!" Nero exclaimed.

"Then why don't you tell me where you sent them?" the young Cavallone boss questioned further.

"I…I don't know…" his uncle replied before adding quickly. "I just sent them away! I don't know where!"

Vero sighed and stood up as he scratched his head with thought. "The Vindiche will be coming soon," he said. "What will you do when they come? Will you run away again?"

"No. I'll go with them." Nero stated calmly. "I didn't kill any of my family, but there are still crimes I still need to answer for…"

A few hours passed, and the Vindiche did come, just as Vero had told Nero. And Nero went willingly with them, just like he had promised.

In the end, about fifty percent of the base was damaged, but everything was fixable. Almost everyone was fatally wounded, except for Kyoko and the mechanics, which were in a safe place while everything was going on. Hibari was wounded the most, as he was the one who had held Nero back multiple times, and everyone else was more or less conscious. When they had all come together, Vero told them all that had happened between him and his uncle.

"Do you believe him then?" Tsuna asked when Vero had finished.

"I don't know…It just seemed to me that Nero was unusually uncharacteristic when he told me." The young Cavallone boss answered, unsure.

"But you told us he had changed after you hit him with Ciro and the Maximum Canon." Ryohei stated.

"It's true, the same thing happened when you used it against me," Tsuna explained. "All my negative thoughts were blown out of me as your Ciro nicked my arm, although I didn't realize until recently."

"So maybe Nero was telling the truth." Gokudera concluded with thought. "That Rosetta-san, the Bronco, and your grandparents are still alive."

"But even so, we don't even know where they are." Yamamoto interjected with concern.

All was silent for a minute until Vero spoke up. "I'm going to go out and find them." He announced with determination.

Tsuna smirked in response, and offered his services to help him, to which Vero politely declined. "I'm sure with all the branches of the Mezzanotte family helping, we'll find them." The young Cavallone boss stated. "Besides, with most of the base down and everyone injured, I believe that you need to stay here and focus on that."

"Indeed," Tsuna agreed. "I wish you luck on your journey then."

Vero was grateful for the Vongola boss' good will, and he stayed for a month longer to help out with repairs, before setting out to search for his missing family…

….

Meanwhile, at an unknown tropical island, Dino, Rosetta, and their daughter of four years Alessa, finally decided to venture out to the other side of the island to find out the source of the smoke coming from there. There they saw the most intriguing sight; Rosetta's mother and father, still alive…

"R-Rosetta…?" Annalisa uttered with wonder as she gazed at her daughter.

"Mom…Dad?" she said in response, not believing what she saw before her…

* * *

><p><strong>And I'm sad to say, that is the end. It has been a long three years (yes three) since I first posted chapter one. I did falter for a while, putting it on hiatus when I had writer's block, but I got through it and now where at the end.<strong>

**I know I've left it at a cliffhanger, and that's where I want to leave it. At this moment, I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to write a sequel, but things change, and maybe in about a year I'll think about possibly putting up a sequel (after all I am planning a spin-off of my bleach fanfic).**

**But anyway, thank you so much for reading to the end, faving, and reviewing. And big huge thanks to Akira Amano, who created such a wonderful and amazing manga and characters. Now for the last time, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! And it's characters do not belong to me, but Rosetta and my other OCs do.**

**Goodbye for now! ;)**


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